The Days in the Lives of Our Children
by LadySparx
Summary: It's the year 2034 and everyone is all grown up with families of their own. Here's a front row seat to the lives of Damon and Elena's three adopted children, Nick, Sara, and Alex. AU. M for a reason. See AN in Chapter 1 for details. Beta wanted.
1. Mom and Dad Aren't Gonna be Happy

AN: Hey Everyone! Before I get yelled at, I am begging for forgiveness on not updating anything recently. I have not forgotten about TOPD. I have most of the next chapter written, just missing a few scenes to pull it together. The muses have not been kind in regards to that fic, but have decided to give a new one. I hope you guys enjoy this one. The muses are in over drive and I have the first few chapters completed and ideas for others. Depending on the reviews for this first chapter will depend on how soon I post the second one. This fic is centered around the three adoptive children of Damon and Elena with glimpses of Caroline and Stefan's seven adoptive children and Jeremy and Bonnie's two. I own none of the original TVD characters, but I do own Sara, Chief, Nick, and Alex and any other OC's including the 9 other kids you will eventually see in future chapters.

Warning: this fic is rate M for a reason. There is/will be fowl language, adult content, and abusive situations that could result in trigger warnings. You have been warned now and I will not tolerate complaints. I will try to provide some warning at the beginning of each chapter, but do not expect it to always be there. 18+, read at your own risk.

PS- still looking for an experience Beta. If interested PM me.

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Chapter One – Mom and Dad Aren't Gonna be Happy.

Loud music could be heard throughout the entire Salvatore home, which used to be known as the Boarding House with in the small town that was Mystic Falls, Virginia. Down stairs, trying to avoid whatever chaos would ensure from their youngest siblings actions, Nick and Sara Salvatore tried their best to get on with their evening.

Sara Alyssa Salvatore was seventeen and the only daughter of Damon and Elena Salvatore. She was tall, standing at about 5'8", she had an athletic build as she was the Mystic High Girls Soccer Captain, had long, wavy, blonde hair, pale skin that only stayed tan in the summer and piercing blue eyes they everyone swore could see into your very soul and know all your secrets. She was in the kitchen making dinner for her and her brothers, cutting up raw steak at the counter. Sitting beside her was her German Shepard named Chief. He was going on 11 years old, but by the way he acted you'd never know it. He was Sara's shadow in every form of the word, where Sara went Chief went. They may as well have been attached at the hip. The only place he didn't go was to school, but if he was allowed to you could bet that he would be there with her. While Sara sliced up some meat for the meal she was making, she would occasional slip Chief a fatty sliver.

"You're got to be kidding me!" came the shout of her older brother Nick. Nicolaus Allen Salvatore was the tallest child, standing at a full 6'2". He was eighteen years old, thin though muscular, had short sandy hair, tan skin, and green eyes. Despite his level of popularity at Mystic High, he was the quiet child of the three Salvatore children. He preferred his books to sports, but was always present at every one of his sister's soccer games. The girls were undefeatable and were likely to make it to the playoffs once again because of Sara. Both Nick and Sara were seniors in high school.

"What is it Nick?" Sara called as she put the knife down and made her way towards the living room where her brother was. Nick stood next to their father's liquor cabinet and the doors were ajar. They weren't supposed to be.

"He did it again!" Nick shouted as he opened the doors to look at what their younger brother had stolen out of their father's alcohol supply.

"Did he break the lock or jimmy it open this time?" Sara asked as she walked up to the cabinet. The doors weren't broken, but the lock along with the metal that was supposed to be holding it there was busted off. The two siblings could see that the bottle of bourbon their father had just opened last night was missing. "Seriously? Okay, what's the point of locking this shit up if he's just going to break into it?" Sara asked as she picked up the still locked padlock from the floor below.

Nick sighed. "Mom and Dad are not going to be happy about this." He said

"Not going to be happy about what?" came the voice that belonged to none other than their mother, Elena Salvatore. Sara and Nick turned their gaze to the entrance of the living room and saw their mother standing in the entry way with their father coming in through the front door. Though their parents didn't look much older than themselves, Elena looking like she was the age of her children and Damon 25, they were really 42 and 194 respectively.

"Why is that music so damn loud?" Damon asked as he came to stand beside his wife of 18 years who was staring at their two oldest children. Children who were standing in front of his liquor cabinet, a cabinet that was supposed to be locked at all times and the lock was currently in his daughter's hands.

"Uh…" Sara and Nick said, unsure of how this was going to fold out. However, their mother just sighed and shook her head.

"Let me guess, Alex?" she asked. The two siblings just shrugged their shoulders.

"That boy is way out of hand." Damon growled before he made his way upstairs towards his son's room.

"Nick, could you please help your sister with dinner?" Elena asked her son softly, but Nick knew it wasn't a request and Sara knew better than to decline the help even though she didn't need it. The two disappeared into the kitchen, Chief tailing after them as Elena made her way up stairs behind her husband to deal with their youngest son.

Alexander James Salvatore was seventeen and a sophomore at Mystic Falls High. While he and Sara were the same age, only three months apart, Alex had been held back in 7th grade and Sara had skipped 8th grade, putting her in the same class as their older brother. Alex was shorter than his siblings, standing at 5'6", two inches shy of his sister and he was very thin despite the fact that he could eat one out of house and home. He had pale skin, brown hair that he'd grown out as of late that was always in his eyes, and had brown eyes. Lately, Alex had become the Salvatore's problem child. His grades were terrible, he was nearly always high smoking pot, and was constantly stealing his father's liquor hence the lock that appeared on the cabinet several months back. The crowd he was hanging with these days was not approved of by Elena and Damon and they feared their son would be getting into the wrong kind of trouble and their relationship with Sherriff Forbes was not going to be able to get him out of trouble forever. Elena had tried to get her brother Jeremy to talk to Alex, but it didn't seem to help. Jeremy said that it would probably take something drastic to get Alex on the clean and narrow before he'd quit all this crap on his own.

Damon banged on his son's bedroom door before turning the knob to open it or at least trying to since the door was locked. "Alexander James Salvatore! You open this door right now before I break it down!" Damon shouted, though he was unsure if he was heard over the loud mess that was his son's choice in music.

* * *

Down stairs in the kitchen, Nick turned up what little music they had playing when he heard their dad shouting. It was only going to get worse. While the Salvatore children grew up knowing that their parents where vampires, they had never been scared of them in the sense that they would be harmed, but pissing of a vampire no matter the relation was never a smart idea. All the children were even on vervain so that no matter how much they may want to, their parents nor any other vampire would be able to compel them.

With each child having come from an abusive background, Elena and Damon had been a god send to each child, especially Sara. Nick came to live with Elena and Damon when he was barely 2 after his junkie of a mother sold him to a guy for drugs, twice. Alex had been the second child to join the Salvatore clan when he was 8 months old and had been taken from his crack whore of a mother and had been a crack baby. Though she had done her best to stay off the stuff when she found out she had been pregnant, Alex had still been born with an addiction though not nearly as bad as most babies. Sara was the last to join the Salvatore's at the age of 7. Though she had known them for little over a year before she was adopted, having been in the same kindergarten class as Alex and had been his best friend, it was divesting to all when they found out the truth of Sara's home life. Sara's mother and her string of boyfriends were abusive and her current beau had been a controlling asshole. Sara had jumped off of Wickery Bridge to save her puppy after he threw him off the bridge in a pillow case. The only good thing Sara had at home and like hell was she going to lose him. The entire town knew of the hideous secret Sara had tried to keep hidden and it still plagued her even almost 11 years later.

"How long do you think he'll be grounded for this time?" Nick asked while Sara mixed up the contents for a stir-fry.

"Did his last sentence even finish? He was grounded for two weeks when Mom caught him taking money from her purse and that was last Wednesday." Sara stated. Nick did the counting in his head. Today was Friday, it had only been a week and two days.

"I say he's either grounded till the end of the school year or Mom and Dad start removing crap from his room…again." Nick wagered.

Sara just shook her head. "Grounded and they take away his car keys…again." She countered.

"Didn't they already…"

"He got 'em back last week."

"Damn, and where related to that?"

Sara smirked. "Not by blood."

They both laughed. It was their running joke between all the Salvatore children, not just Nick, Sara, and Alex, but their cousins on their father's side as well. Whenever someone did something bad or embarrassing that was the phrase to go to since Stefan and Caroline's seven children were also adopted. Though they're backgrounds weren't as drastic as theirs were. A few orphans, wards of the state, and the rest were given up at birth. The only couple with biological children were Jeremy and Bonnie and they had two children, a boy in junior high and a girl in elementary school.

* * *

Upstairs, Damon and Elena received no word from their son. So Damon, true to his word, broke down the door by ramming his shoulder into it. The door gave way like tissue paper to the nearly 200 year old vampire. Inside they found they're youngest son sitting on the floor, music blaring with a headset on as he 'save the world from the zombie apocalypse.' The room was hazy and reeked of pot which was funny because neither Damon nor Elena had smelt it but they noticed the window was open and a fan sat beside their son to blow it in the direction of the window. Besides a small bag of weed beside Alex there was also and empty bottle of bourbon beside him and Damon knew it had been over half full when he had taken it.

"That's it!" Damon shouted before he vamp sped out of the room and down stairs, past his 'good' children in the kitchen and into the basement where he flipped the power switch to the entire house. "Dude!" "Daddy!" _"Bark"_ "Damon!" "What the fuck?!" where the responses heard throughout the house. The last one he knew belonged to his wayward son. Footsteps could be heard as someone came down the stairs.

"Daddy, I get you're trying to make a point and all, but are you going to turn the power back on or are we eating out for dinner?" came the voice of Sara from where she stood in the middle of the basement stairs. Damon couldn't see her, but knew she had her hands on her hips. Now if you asked Damon, he'd say he loved all his children equally no matter how much they got on his nerves, but if you asked one else everyone would say that his favorite was Sara and they'd be right.

"Sorry Princess." Damon said as he flipped the switch back on and the basement flooded with light.

"Mhmm." Sara said with a roll of her eyes and made her way back up the stairs to finish dinner. Damon quickly vamp sped his way back upstairs to his wife and their prisoner.

* * *

Alex had been close to killing off the last of the group of zombies, his friends he was playing with online had all perished and their players having either been eaten or zombified. Just as he finished reloading his gun the TV screen went black. "What the fuck?!" Alex shouted, the voices of his friends were no longer in his ears, the music had stopped playing, much to everyone's delight though it was short lived when Damon flipped the power back on the music started up again once more but at a more tolerable volume level. "What….what happened?" Alex slurred as he was high off his rocker and drunker than a skunk. It was only as he tried to stand up but fell back on his ass that he noticed his parents in his room and boy where they pissed. "What…what are youse…. guys doing…" he could barely get his words out as he noticed that his door was barely hanging on its hinges. "What the…fuck…happened touse my… door?!" he shouted before fell sideways to the floor and passed out. How the hell he'd been able to play his damn game was beyond Damon and Elena.

"That boy…"

"I know." Elena sighed. "Well look at it this way, at least we have a moment to figure out what we're going to do." She said as she walked further into the room and turned off the stereo.

"I already know what I'm doing." Damon said as he lifted the limp body of his son and placed him on the bed. Though he was passed out his heartbeat was still going strong to the relief of his parents.

"This can't keep going on Elena." Damon said as he ran his hand through his hair.

"I know. I just don't know what to do. We've grounded him, taken things away, what else is there? We can't send him away." Elena said, concerned. Though that last one was never an option to either of them, they had no where they could send him and they didn't trust that he'd be safe anywhere other than his own home. Damon and Elena where all too familiar with the evils in the world, and unfortunate their kids knew some of them too. They were determined as parents to keep them from the rest if they could help it.

"I know. Maybe we can talk to Liz, see what she suggests." Damon said as he guided his wife out of their son's room. Damon tried to close the door but it no longer fit right. "I'll fix that later or maybe we should just keep it off for a while?" Damon look to Elena, an eye brow raised in question.

Elena sighed and waved a hand. "Might as well. Maybe losing all privacy will help him and whatever else we choose." She said before she turned and walked down the stairs, the sound of the door being ripped from its hinges reaching her ears.

Damon and Elena walked through the first floor of the house and into the kitchen where Sara was transferring their dinner from the pan to a serving dish and Nick was setting the table for five.

"You can take one setting away, Sweetheart. Your brother won't be joining us for dinner." Elena said.

"What, the old to bed without supper bit?" Nick asked. Sara coughed.

"Please, like Mom and Dad would ever let us miss a meal. Besides it was way too quiet upstairs. What happened? He pass out?" Sara asked as she brought the dish of stir-fry to the table.

"You know your brother well." Damon said as he grabbed two mugs from the cupboard before open the fridge to grab two blood bags and the pitcher of water.

Sara scoffed. "Not so much apparently. We didn't even know he'd broken into the liquor cabinet again till Nick saw it was open. What did he use to open it with any way? The lock was busted clean off." Sara asked as she looked to her older brother.

Nick shook his head. "Who knows? Could have been a number of things lying around. He was home from school before either of us. I was at the library till I came to the end of your Soccer practice." He said as Elena took the pitcher of water from her husband and began filling four glasses with it. "Hey! Chief was here, maybe he knows!" Nick exclaimed.

"Probably." Sara shrugged. Chief saw everything. He was her little spy after all. "Chief." Sara called to the dog who was currently laying underneath the kitchen table by Sara's usual seat. Chief quickly got up and was at his Sara's side in seconds. He let out a bark and wagged his tail. "Do you know what Alex used to break into Daddy's liquor cabinet?" she asked him. Chief just barked, turned around and ran in to the living room. The relationship that Chief and Sara shared was one in a million. Their bond was so strong that the two practically shared their own language and mental connection. They could understand one another that when other's watched it just looked like the two were having a starring contest or making faces at one another. Sure enough, chief was back in a few short moments with something in his mouth. He went straight up to Sara and dropped it at her feet. "Good boy, Chief." Sara praised patting Chief on the head. She bent down and picked up the wooden statue of some Greek god. The base was chipped and indented from where Alex had hit the lock with it. "That would do it." She said as she handed it to her mother who just sighed in aggravation.

"Alright, Dinner time." Damon said, trying to change the subject before he lost what little of his temper he had left. He removed the mugs full of blood from the microwave and set Elena's next to her glass of water as he joined his family at the dinner table.

"Thank you Sara for making dinner tonight, Sweetie. We weren't sure how long we were going to have before the council meeting tonight, but it got pushed back to 8." Elena said as she put some food onto her plate. She and Damon had an hour and a half till they had to go, but she was unsure if they should go at all tonight what with Alex's actions and all.

"No problem mom." Sara said as she took a sip of water. "You know I like to cook."

"Good at it too. Guess you had a good teacher, eh Sara?" Damon smirked.

Sara nodded. "Oh yeah, Mrs. Burns was awesome!" Sara said, referring to her former Home Economics teacher causing Nick to burst out laughing and Damon to scowl. Elena managed to hide her laughter into her mug of blood. "But she's got nothing on you, Daddy." Sara laughed.

"Damn right she doesn't." Damon said before he put a large forkful of food into his mouth. While stir-fry wasn't an Italian dish, Sara still did an excellent job when it came to food. Then again, Sara knew how to make pancakes before she had even come to live with them. The first time Damon found her at the stove in front of a hot pan flipping pancakes he'd just about had a heart attack.

The four out of five members of the Damon Salvatore family enjoyed their meal provided by Sara while the two teens filled their parents in on their day.

Well, that's the first installment. Please review and tell me what you guys think. Remember, this story is rated M for a reason.


	2. Under House Arrest

**AN: Here's chapter 2 you guys. I'm glad to see this story had gotten a few reviews and even a few people are following. I hope that some of you will consider reviewing. I always look forward to your guys' opinions. There are no warnings for this chapter other than for fowl language. Enjoy!**

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Chapter Two – Under House Arrest

The next morning Damon and Elena were up and sitting in the kitchen. Well that is Elena was sitting at the table drinking coffee with her morning dose of blood and Damon was cooking breakfast for them and the kids. They had talked about what they were going to do with Alex and had consulted Nick and Sara for their opinion to ensure that they were okay with effectively babysitting their brother. They were officially taking everything away, literally everything, and Alex was not allowed to be alone at home. His freedom was effectively gone.

Elena had called Caroline to tell her what had happened last night and what they were doing about it. Care had even offered up her home with the same rules as well seeing as she had seven children at home and the older kids could always use help looking after the younger ones when she or Stefan couldn't be home with them right away. Her home was also to be used as a backup place for Alex to go when one of Elena's family members couldn't be with him. Both Caroline and Stefan taught at Mystic Falls High school with Care being a 10th and 11th grade English teacher and Stefan a 12th grade AP History teacher.

As Damon began plating the eggs, bacon and toast he'd been making the sound of footsteps and paws with claws reached their ears.

"Morning." Nick yawned as he took his usual seat at the table. He was dressed for school, but still had a case of bed head that needed to be taken care of.

"Good Morning." Sara said with a smile. Though typically not a morning person, it was the middle of soccer season and therefore every morning she and Chief ran 2 miles before school, so Sara was awake, alert, and freshly showered at 7:30 in the morning.

"Good morning my loves and a good morning to you too Chief." Elena smiled as she ruffled the dog's fur before he took his spot beside Sara's chair, having already been fed his breakfast when he and Sara got back from their morning run.

"Morning kids." Damon said as he set a plate of food in front of each of his children and slipped Chief a few pieces of bacon. "Almost time for Chief to have his claws done don't you think, Sara?"

Sara nodded. "He has an appointment with Sally today. I'm taking him after school." She informed, referring to their vet.

Unlike most dogs, Chief didn't mind going to the vet seeing as Dr. Sally McBiel always kept treats in her pocket. Not that Chief was one to misbehave, but it was learned early on that Chief was more likely to cooperate if Sara was with him. There was a time a few years ago when Sally had been busy and couldn't be the one to see a five year old Chief so her associate had to take the appointment. Needless to say, Chief had not been a fan of the change nor the male doctor that had agreed to see him. When the new vet had suggested a muzzle or sedation as it seemed Chief was becoming increasingly agitated the more time went on, Damon had suggested another idea and quickly called a twelve year old Sara from the waiting room. The moment Sara was in the room Chief had calmed down and with Sara's help the vet had been able to finish his exam without a growl or whine from the Shepard. The male vet had said he'd never seen such an attitude change in a dog just because of a person walking into the room. It wasn't till later on when Dr. McBiel filled her coworker in on the relationship that Chief and Sara had with her parent's approval that other doctor began to understand.

"That's great sweetie, but don't you have practice?" Elena inquired.

Sara nodded as she finished chewing the bacon in her mouth. "I do, but Coach said I could be late as long as I promised to bring Chief back with me." She laughed. "Said he could run the final round of laps with us and maybe play a game of keep away. Besides the girls haven't seen him since the last time I brought him and I think he'd enjoy it." She said as she patted the dog's head.

Elena just shook her head at her daughter's explanation. "Well you two have fun today." She said as a loud thump could be heard from upstairs.

"Guess your brother is finally up." Damon said as he put down a plate of food in front of Alex's empty chair. The four members at the table finished their breakfast quietly as Alex rushed around upstairs, realizing that he was running late.

"What the fuck happened to my door?!" Alex shouted. Sara and Nick were practically shoveling the food into their mouths, not wanting to be around when Alex came down stairs or when their parents dished out Alex's punishment knowing full well that yelling would result from it. Both teens finished and pushed back their chairs.

"See you in the car," Sara called to Nick as he rushed up stairs to finished getting ready. "Bye, love you." She said as she kissed both her parents. "Be a good boy and I'll see you in a few hours." She said to Chief at the front door. She gave him a loving pat on the head and then ruffled his ears, but when she saw Alex coming down the stairs she bolted for her car nearly slamming the door behind her.

While Nick had been lucky enough for Alex to not see him, he had seen Sara and it unleashed the anger filled tidal wave inside him. "Hey!" he shouted after his sister. When the door shut behind her he stomped his way into the kitchen where he saw his parents sitting at the table drinking coffee with their morning dose of blood. "Why didn't anyone wake me?!" he demanded.

"Alex, you're seventeen years old! You're old enough to have the responsibility of waking yourself up for school." Elena scolded with a frown. With how much she'd been frowning and scowling as of late at her youngest son, she was amazed she hadn't developed permanent wrinkles. It was another reason she was thankful for being a vampire.

"Have a seat, Son." Damon commanded with a scowl on his face.

Alex sat down at the table and shoveled his food into his mouth. For all the running around he had done a few moments ago he was still wearing yesterday's clothes now wrinkled from sleeping in them, smelled like a stale ashtray and bourbon was seeping through his pores. There was no way Elena was letting her son out of the house like that if she could help it. With a nod to Damon her husband quickly got the silent message and sped up to Nick's room where he told him that he and Sara could leave without Alex this morning. Nick's face flooded with relief at the fact of not being trapped in the car with a brooding Alex even if the school was only seven minutes down the road and nearly gave his dad a bear hug before Damon sped back down into the kitchen. Alex was so hung over that Damon was sure he didn't even notice he had left the table.

"Alex, you're mother and I need to talk to you." Damon started.

"No time dad….Late" Alex said through a mouth full of food. At that time Nick made his way down stairs shouting a quick 'Goodbye!' and was out the door in seconds. The sound of Sara starting up her car as it was her day to drive her and her brothers to school reached Damon and Elena's ears. Each Salvatore child had their own car, but unless they had different plans after school that required them to take more than one vehicle they carpooled in the morning per the request of their parents to save money. Unfortunately, the sound also reached Alex's ears. "What the fuck?" he swore as he scrambled out of his chair, placing his nearly empty plate on the floor for Chief to finish. Chief sniffed at the plate, but showed no interest in food. He threw his nose in the air and walked out of the kitchen.

Damon and Elena shared a look. _'Snubbed by Chief. Never good.'_ They both thought. It seemed even the dog disapproved of Alex's behavior as of late.

"Alex sit down." Elena spoke.

"Can't. Gotta go." Alex said as he rushed out of the kitchen towards the front door. However, he wasn't even through the living room when he saw his sister's car driving away from the house … without him. "Hey wait!" Damon was soon in front of him. "Dad! I'm gonna be late for school!" Alex whined as he saw Sara's car disappear from view. "Dammit! Why didn't they wait?"

"Alexander go sit down!" Damon growled. "Your mother or I will take you to school when we have finished talking and you have showered and put on clean clothes."

Alex could see that whatever his parents wanted to talk about was important so he went back into the kitchen and sat at the table where his mom was still waiting. "Ok, so talk." he huffed. "But you guys don't have to take me, I can just drive myself." He said as he pulled out his car keys from his pants pocket. Elena quickly snatched them from him. "Hey! Mom!"

"Quiet." Elena commanded. "You will not be taking your car to school or anywhere else till we say otherwise." She said as she pocketed his keys.

"What? Why? I just got those back!"

"Yes and now you've lost them once more. In fact you've lost everything, car, phone, TV, videogames, stereo, your door meaning no privacy. You…"

"What! You can't! That's not fair!" Alex shouted as he leaped out of his chair, interrupting his mother.

"Sit down!" Damon roared. "We are sick and tired of your behavior, Alexander James!" Damon threw the busted off lock on to the table even though it had been quickly replaced with a new one after dinner. "Stealing alcohol, smoking, having no regard for yourself or others that live in this house, you're grades are terrible! Alex, your Aunt Caroline told us you're failing her class! In fact, you're failing all your classes! Alex at this rate you'll be held back again, is that what you want?"

"What your father is trying to say Alex is until you grow up, get yourself together and start making some drastic improvement in both your attitude regarding school and here at home you're grounded."

"What? For how long?"

"Until we say otherwise. You are to go to school and then you are to come home. If your mother or I can't be home with you after school you will either be with your brother or sister. If…"

"What?!"

"If they can't be with you, you are to go to Aunt Caroline and Uncle Stefan's until one of us or your siblings come to get you. You are not to be alone in this house and there will be no more smoking or drinking. Consider yourself under house arrest, because if you don't shape up you'll find yourself in jail and your mother and I don't want to see that happen." Damon finished before he had been interrupted.

"You can't do this!" Alex shouted.

"We can and have. Now, march yourself upstairs and shower and put clean clothes on. I will not have my son going to school smelling like a bar!" Elena demanded, pointing in the direction of the stairs.

"I hate both of you!" Alex shouted before running out of the kitchen and upstairs.

"And be quick, you're already late as it is!" Damon shouted after him.

Though Alex couldn't slam his bedroom door he could slam his bathroom door and did so. Damon just turned to his wife. "Maybe we should take that one away as well?" he suggested and Elena couldn't help but giggle. "Why did we think becoming parents would be a good thing?" Damon asked as he wrapped his arms around Elena, though she could tell he was joking.

"Because we wanted more in life." Elena smiled.

"But why kids? Why didn't we just adopt a dog? Why did we adopt kids?"

Elena laughed. "We did technically. We got a dog with one of them and the other two aren't so bad."

Damon sighed. "At least we have two good children."

"We have three great kids, Damon. One is just going through a bad patch. I'm sure you went through one at some point in time." Elena teased.

"Well yeah, but…. You know what, never mind." Damon said as he began to clear the table. Elena smirked and picked up Alex's plate off the floor. She looked at it in her hand and shook her head.

"Snubbed by Chief." She said and Damon could only nod.

"Right." He said as the clicking of nails on the tile alerted of Chief's presence.

"Hey boy. You want this?" Elena asked. Though they didn't typically give chief table scraps, there wasn't much left and they hated to waste food. What good was having another mouth to feed in a sense that you couldn't feed him left overs once and a while? Chief sniffed at the plate before barking and wagging his tail. She laughed and set it on the floor. Chief quickly polished it off.

Damon scoffed. "Thought so. Like you're ever one to say no to food Chief." Damon leaned down and picked up the clean plate. "When did we start talking to the dog? Have we really lost it that much? Damn kids." He muttered but was smiling all the same.

Elena laughed before Alex could be heard stomping down the stairs. She sighed. "I'll take him to school." She said as she kissed Damon. "I'll see you later. Love you."

"Love you too, Baby." Damon said as he kissed her back. "Have a good day at work. Have a good say at school, Son!" He called. He was met with a slam from the front door. He chose to ignore it and cleaned up the breakfast dishes with a sigh. "I hope he changes his ways soon, Chief ol' boy." He said to the dog that was laying by the back door. Chief's response was dog like sigh and looking in another direction.

* * *

Sara slammed her locker door shut as the warning bell rang signaling for all students to get to first period within the next five minutes. As she turned from her locker door she came face to face with her 'twin.' "Alex! You scared me." She breathed. From the look on his face, it was a good thing she and Nick had left without him.

"How could you?!" he hissed.

Sara scrunched up her nose at the smell of his breath. While he may have showered and put on clean clothes, he hadn't brush his teeth. In fact Sara couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him preform the act of oral hygiene. "How could I what?" she asked.

"You ratted me out to mom and dad!"

"I did no such thing! Alex, you broke into Dad's liquor cabinet then went into your room and got drunk and high! Nick and I wouldn't have even had to show them the busted lock for them to figure it out. They're vampires remember, they hear everything! Why do you think we never got away with anything when we were little, Stupid! Next time, instead of blaming others for your actions why don't you take some responsibility and own up to it!" Sara snapped as the 2 minute warning bell rang. "You best get yourself to Auntie Care's class before your late and wind up with detention…again."

"At least if I got detention you wouldn't have to babysit me." Alex sneered.

"I'm not, Nick has the first shift on account I have to take Chief to the vet then go to soccer practice." Sara informed before rushing off to AP English with Mr. Crosby.

Alex rolled his eyes at his sister's back before spinning on his heel and walking towards Caroline Salvatore's classroom. As usual he was the last to enter and surprisingly the only seat available was one in the front. "Nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Salvatore. Please, have a seat." Caroline said as she continued writing out today's lesson on the board. "Alright, today class…."

* * *

 _'_ _RING'_

The bell sounded signaling to the students that second period was over and it was now time for first period lunch while second period lunch had a 20 minute study hall. Alex quickly left his algebra class with Mr. Burns and made a beeline towards the cafeteria. At least he wouldn't have to see either of his siblings till the end of the day seeing as they both had second period lunch. Or so he thought. Just as he rounded the corner, there stood Nick.

"Brother." Nick said as he looked down at Alex.

"Piss off." He sneered as he shoved past Nick.

"I'll be waiting outside your 4th period class to pick you up in case you had any ideas about running off!" Nick shouted over the crowd of students. A raised hand in the air with a single finger pointing towards the ceiling was all he got in response from his younger brother. "Prick." Nick muttered before he went on his way towards study hall.

* * *

"Dude, it's not fucking fair!" Alex hissed as he sat outside in the quad with his pal Shorty, occasionally sneaking drags from a joint when the teachers weren't looking.

"That's fucked up dude. Parents man. They…they just don't….just don't understand." Shorty said between drags, already high off his rocker. Shorty lived up to his name sake. He was just barely over five feet tall, standing at around 5'2". He had pale, acne prone skin, short brown hair, and beady, hazel eyes. He was thin and had what was described as a rat's face by Sara and she called him such. Thin, narrow and a mouth full of yellow buck teeth.

"This is bullshit! I'm practically a prisoner in my own home. They took everything, even the keys to my car and I just got those back too!"

"Man that sucks. You know what you need? You need to come hang with me and the gang after school. Were gonna go down to the old quarry and drink."

"Wish I could Short, but along with everything else my parents have taken away my freedom. My siblings are pretty much babysitting me when my parents aren't around." Alex sighed.

"Now that's fucked up, but they have their own shit to do. They can't watch you 100% of the time."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Yeah and when they can't I'm supposed to go to my aunt and uncle's house."

"Damn, you weren't kidding when you said your life is over." Short said just as the bell rang signaling the end of lunch and first period study. Shorty and Alex stood and threw their styrofoam trays into the trash.

"See you later man. If I don't show up to my aunt's classroom for study hall I may as well be dead." Alex said as he ran off, knowing full well that Shorty was going to ditch the rest of the school day as he always did after lunch.

* * *

"I can't believe your brother." Rachel Lamont exasperated as she, Nick, Sara, and their friends Bobby Bass, Susan Reardon, Lizzy Belmont and Lincoln 'Link' Donovan sat down at their usual table. Rachel was a few inches taller than Sara, was of average weight with long, dark brown curly hair, light brown skin, and brown eyes. Bobby was 6'6" with black hair, pale skin and blue eyes. He was large in a muscular way and was on the football team. He was better known as Tank to his teammates. Susan or Suzy as they sometimes called her, was 5'4" and a little on the pudgy side. She had black hair, pale skin and green eyes. Lizzy was just slightly shorter than Sara at about 5'7" and was thin as a twig. She was on the soccer team with Sara and had pale skin and blonde hair with hazel eyes and a face full of freckles. Finally, Link was the son Matt Donovan and was as tall as Nick. He had blonde hair, tan skin, a muscular build as he was also on the football team with Bobby and had brown eyes.

During study hall Nick and Sara had filled their group of friends in on what had happened last night and how for the time being Alex would be hanging out with them if possible or one of them would be missing sometimes. While their parents had made it clear that their social lives were not to be put on hold because of their brother, Nick and Sara didn't like that if their parents weren't with Alex that he'd been dumped onto one of their aunts or uncles and was probably more likely to try and give them the slip. It was embarrassing to say the least.

"Really, what's gotten into him lately?" Link asked.

"You mean he hasn't always been like this?" Lizzy asked in a British accent. She and her family had moved to the States in the middle of last year's school year when her dad got transferred back to the States for work. While his job was in Richmond, he had wanted his family to have the luxury of growing up in a small town than a busy city. So here they were in Mystic Falls. Lizzy had dreaded the move but quickly came to like the sleepy town when she met Sara and her friends and was given a chance to try out for the soccer team even though the season had already started. To her, Alex had always been the drunken stoner reject.

"No he wasn't." Nick sighed. "I don't really know when it started or why, but Alex has just really given up on everything."

"I can't say as to why, but I can say as to who and when." Sara said gaining the attention of her friends. "It was just before Thanksgiving last year and the school was doing its annual canned food drive. Alex and I had brought in a large bag of food and we dropped it off at the office that morning. Well at the end of the day Alex and I had stopped by the pile of food and looked for what we had brought in and just as we were about to leave we saw someone swipe a can of peaches and run off with it. Alex ran after him to confront him and the guy tried to give off some spiel how he brought the peaches from home and that we were high when in reality he was the one higher than a kite. Well Alex called bullshit naturally because the can of peaches he had taken was actually one we had brought in and he told him so. The guy laughed, apologized and handed him back the can and walked off saying he was off to The Grill for a milkshake. Alex put the can back and we went home. The next day I saw Alex hanging out with the thief and it's been downhill ever since."

"Who was the thief?" Susan asked.

"Like you have to ask, Suzy. Who do you think?" Rachel scoffed.

"Shorty." Was the mutual response that went around the table.

"That guy is just bad news. When does he graduate?" Link asked.

"Next year, if he actually does graduate. I'm hoping he drops out before then. I don't think my parents could take another year with him hanging around Alex." Sara said before taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Why don't they just compel Shorty to stay away from Alex?" Bobby asked.

"They don't like to unless absolutely necessary and before you ask, they have tired it. He's on vervain. Pretty sure Alex gave him some." Nick explained. "And he's usually too high or drunk to care that he's pissing off vampires. The dumbass."

"But he is scared. That's why he doesn't come around the house anymore. Remember when they first started hanging out? He was over a few times." Sara reminded her brother.

"Oh yeah. Dad came home and caught him and Alex with a joint and dad practically vamped out at the smell of it. We _all_ got a lecture than night." Nick recalled.

"Some good it did." Link said as he crushed his soda can. "So you guys are effectively babysitting your brother?"

"In a way." Sara nodded.

"I've got first shift cause Sara has to go home and take Chief to the vet before soccer practice."

Lizzy squealed. "Ohhh, are you bringing Chiefy to practice?" she asked

"Yup, it was Coaches condition that I could be late as long as I brought him with me." Sara laughed.

"Oh yay!" Lizzy said as she clapped her hands in delight.

"Yeah, should be fun." Sara laughed before the bell rang for third period. The group got up, disposed of their lunch trays and headed off to class. For Sara, Nick and Link it was AP History with Uncle Stefan.

* * *

As the final bell of the day rang signaling the end of school students piled into the halls. Nick waited outside of Alaric Saltzman's history room waiting for Alex. Uncle Rick as he was dubbed outside of school or in private came to stand in the door way. "Good luck." He said as Alex shrugged his way past them.

"Thanks." Nick said with a smile and a roll of his eyes that was meant in good nature before catching up to his brother.

"So is Sara dropping us off at home?" Alex glowered.

"Nope. We are going to the library before heading out to watch the end of Sara's soccer practice." Nick smirked.

Alex groaned. "Why can't we just go home? Sara's going there any way."

"Well Sara's probably left by now, so unless you want to walk home, and I don't, we're going to the library." Nick stated. "It's not like you've got anything better to do at home."

"Thanks for reminding me." Alec scowled as he glared daggers into the back of his brother's head.

"Hey it's not my fault you're an out of control jackass begging to get landed into juvie." Nick said as he dragged his little brother towards their destination.

* * *

"So how is he, Sally?" Sara asked as she sat in the examination room with Chief at her feet.

"What can I say, Sara? As always Chief is the perfect picture of health. I swear he's going to live forever. Hey, that vampire blood doesn't work on dogs does it?" Sally laughed.

"I don't think so." Sara laughed as well. "Well thanks Sally, but we got to get going. I'm already late enough for practice as it is." Chief barked in agreement. He was excited to play ball with his Sara.

"Well you two have fun and I'll see you guys next time." She said as she gave Sara a hug and chief one final treat as they walked out of the exam room and into the lobby.

"We will, bye." Sara said with a wave as the two walked out the front door and towards Sara's car. Sara reached into her purse and grabbed her car keys hitting the unlock button on the remote. "Chief, door." She said and Chief barked before rounding the front of the car and moved to the passenger's side. With his nose he opened the front passenger door and got in. As Sara got in behind the wheel and started up the car she hit the window button for his side. As the window slid down into the door Chief used his front paws to close it. "Now if only you could buckle yourself in." Sara joked as she did so herself and quickly backed out of the parking lot and drove off towards the school.

Sara parked in the back by the fields. She had already changed into her shorts and t-shirt before she left home so all she had to do was put her cleats on when she got the field. From where she parked she could see the girls doing drills. She grabbed her soccer bag from the back seat before she and Chief walked over to the team. As she walked she pulled out her cell phone and texted Nick.

"Salvatore! 'Bout time you two got here. Stretch and the two of you can do a warm up lap." Coach Biers said with a smirk on his face.

"Can we run a lap with them?" some of the girls asked. It wasn't every day Chief got to join them since the girls would rather play with the dog than run laps and drills, but if they were volunteering to run a lap, who was he to stop them.

"Alright, everyone run a lap!" he yelled and the girls practically cheered as Sara finished stretching and she and Chief took off. Behind them the entire team followed.

* * *

In the library Nick and Alex sat a table in the back. Nick was catching up on some studying for a history test that was coming up and Alex, well Alex was catching up some sleep. His argument had been that no one said he had to be productive during his sentencing, though Nick clearly remembered that his brother's grades had been one of the many issues their parents had brought up with him. Beside his notebook, Nick's cell phone buzzed and Sara's name lit up the screen. Nick viewed the text.

 **At the field with Chief. - Sara**

Nick quickly put his phone away and began to put his things away in his backpack. "Hey, wake up." He said as she shoved Alex.

"What? What?" Alex said a little too loud and they received a _'shhh'_ from the librarian. "Is it time to go home?" Alex grumbled.

"No, but it is time to go to the soccer fields." Nick said as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

Alex only groaned as he slung his backpack over his shoulder as well and the two brothers made their way out of the library and towards the back of campus to the sports fields.

* * *

Out on the soccer field practice was wrapping up so Coach Biers had allowed for the last 10 minutes of practice to be spent playing keep away from Chief. Well they were trying to play any way, Chief kept getting the ball and would run for one of the goals with it in his mouth with the girls running after him. They were having the time of their life. Nick wasn't sure who was having more fun, Chief or the team.

"Look at him go. I've never seen them move so fast." Coach Biers laughed.

"Now if only they'd run like that during a game." teased the Assistant Coach, Wendy Parks. Both coaches knew they had a pretty great team on their hands.

"I don't know you guys, they're pretty good as it is." Nick said.

"That is true and your sister is going to take us to playoffs again." Biers said. "I'm gonna be sad to see her go come June." A beeping sound came from his wrist signaling the end of time. He blew his whistle. "Time's up girls, practice is over!" he shouted. There was a collective groan from everyone on the field.

"Can we still play with Chief on the field?" one of the girls, a junior, asked. At the thought of being here any longer than he had to Alex groaned and banged his head on the row of bleacher seats in front of him. From where she stood on the field Sara could see Alex's patience beginning to disappear.

"Sorry ladies, but I gotta get these boys home. Plus its dinner time isn't it Chief?" Sara said as she looked to the happy dog sitting at her feet. Chief let out a bark. Some of the girls groaned in disappointment, but said their goodbyes and gathered up their stuff.

"See you girls tomorrow afternoon. I want you all here an hour before the game to we can get a few drills in." Coach Biers informed.

"You guys ready?" Sara asked as she walked over to her brothers on the bleachers.

"Was ready forever ago." Alex mumbled as he made his way towards Sara's car.

"How was he?" Sara asked Nick as the two walked together.

"Fine, but then he always is when he's sleeping." Nick said.

"Seriously? Does he ever do homework? I know Auntie Care has a big paper that's due soon for her class, bet you anything he hasn't started." Sara sighed.

"Probably not. If he did his grades probably wouldn't be so bad." Nick said.

"Yo, let's go!" Alex shouted from the car. His siblings sighed. Sara reached for her keys in the side pocket of her bag and hit the unlock button. "Finally!" Alex muttered as he got in the back seat.

Sara moved to the back and threw her soccer stuff in the trunk before getting in the driver's seat and stated up the car. Nick looked down to Chief.

"You gonna fight me shotgun?" he asked. Chief just barked and walked up the front passenger side and flipped the handle with his nose and got in. Sara had already lowered the window and he shut the door with his paws. Chief barked at Nick before looking to the back door then back at him. "Figures." Nick smirked as he got in the back with Alex.

"You just lost to a dog, dude." Alex laughed.

"Sara why did you teach him that?" Nick groaned.

"Because he's full of potential and you have to admit it's a neat trick." She laughed as she backed up and drove away from the field.

"But why does he always have to get the front seat?" Nick whined.

"Because it's _his_ seat." Sara said as she looked at Nick through the rearview mirror.

Soon the car fell into a comfortable silence amongst the siblings and their canine. Sara drove quickly through the streets and was soon pulling into their drive way. As she got closer she honked the horn signaling to her parents that their children were finally home as both of their vehicles were in the driveway. Alex barely waited for his sister to put the car in park before he unbuckled himself and opened the door.

"Hey!" Sara shouted, throwing the car in park as he left the vehicle. "What's with him?" she asked as she turned to face Nick who shrugged. Together they both got out of the car, Chief opening the door himself with his paw, getting out and then pushing the door close and waited for Sara by the trunk as she pulled out her soccer bag. "C'mon boy, inside." She said as she slammed the trunk shut.

"How was school everyone?" Elena asked when all three of her children came into the kitchen.

"Good," Sara and Nick replied as Nick grabbed a can of soda from the fridge. Alex just shrugged before walking out the back door.

"How was Cheif's appointment?" Elena asked.

"It was good. As always he's in perfect health thankfully." Sara informed. "Nick can you hand me a water?" she asked as she refilled Chief's water and food bowls.

"Sure." Nick said as he grabbed a water from the fridge and set it on the counter for her. "Where's dad?" he asked his mother.

"He's outside grilling up some steaks for dinner."

"Yum." Nick said as he moved to the back door to go say hi to his father.

* * *

After feeding Chief Sara had gone outside to see how long they had before dinner. "Hi Daddy." She smiled as she approached the grill Damon stood in front of.

"Hey Princess. How was practice?" he asked as he flipped the steaks.

"I don't know who had more fun, Chief or the girls." She laughed as Nick came to stand beside her.

"Hey dad. Smells good." He said as he took a sip of his soda.

"Sure does, Son. How was school? How was Alex?" he asked warily.

"School was school." He shrugged.

"And Alex?"

"Was Alex. He slept in the library while I studied and then moaned and groaned about watching the last 45 minutes of Sara's practice. Which I found hysterical by the way." He said looking at Sara. "Chief's pretty good, but he's a total ball hog."

Sara laughed. "That he is, but the girls loved it. How much longer till dinner daddy? I wanna know if I'll have enough time to shower."

"You should shower regardless, Sara. Phew. Stunk up the car." Nick said as he waved his hand in front of his face with a huge grin plastered to it.

Sara rolled her eyes before she shoved him. "Oh please, I was barely there for an hour, I don't smell that bad."

"But you do smell." Nick laughed before going inside.

"Shut up Nick!" Sara shouted at him before laughing.

Damon smirked at the good natured sibling squabble that he loved to hear. "You've got time Sara for a quick shower if you want to before dinner." He told her as he set the lid back down.

"Oh good." She said before turning and going back inside and heading upstairs to shower.

* * *

About 15 minutes later Sara came back down stairs freshly showered to find Nicking helping their mother setting the table as Damon brought in the steaks. "Where's Alex?" she asked as she looked around. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Outside." Damon responded as he set the steaks on the table.

"Is he coming in?" Elena asked as she grabbed the salad from the fridge. "Sara can you grab the dressings?"

"Sure thing mom." She said as she went to the fridge to grab them.

"I told him dinner was ready. If he doesn't come in soon he'll just have to reheat his dinner." Damon said still a bit ticked off where Alex was concerned. The fact that all he had done was sleep and complain to his brother when he should've taken the time to catch up on school work when they had told him his grades needed to improve did not put Damon in a good mood. However, he tried to not let it show in front of Sara and Nick.

"Well everyone let's eat." Elena said before things got tense. The family minus Alex sat down together to eat while Alex roamed the property moaning and groaning about his parents and siblings.

* * *

 **AN: Well that's the second installment. Please review. Hopefully chapter three will be up in a couple of days. I may do a double post seeing as four is already written. Perhaps if there are 3-5 reviews I'll do a double chapter post. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Feel free to ask questions and i'll PM you or post individual replies in the beginning of the next chapter.**


	3. Reckless Endangerment

**AN: Finished chapter 3 sooner than I thought I would. Hope you all enjoy. Keep a look out for Chapter 4. It's finished, but I'd like a few reviews before it's posted.**

 **Warning for language, drug use, and underage drinking.**

 **Enjoy. - LS**

* * *

Chapter Three – Reckless Endangerment

It's been about two weeks since Alex lost well everything and it had not been going well. He'd sneak off every chance he could get and had given not only Sara the slip once, but also Jeremy when he had to watch after him one day. Instead of smoking in his room he'd sneak off to the basement or somewhere on the far edge of the property to smoke. At one point Elena had gone through his room and found his stash and flushed it causing quite the temper tantrum from Alex who ended up running from the house in the end. Elena had been to mad at him to stop him from leaving seeing as they both needed time to cool off. Tension was running high in the Salvatore home for everyone. Alex was a time bomb waiting to explode and he was determined to take everyone with him it seemed. Sara and Nick had been walking on eggshells for the last two weeks and they weren't sure how much longer they could take it.

"I just don't get it. I really don't." Sara said as she floated in the pool. Though summer was about to come to a close and fall was getting ready to set in, Mystic Falls was having one of its many late in the year warm days. "I mean why he doesn't at the very least do his school work and get his grades up is beyond me. It's not like it's hard. Mom and dad would probably start returning things if he did that at least."

"I don't get it either Sar. Mom says it's a phase a lot of guys go through. Uncle Jeremy did." Nick responded from where he floated in the inner tube.

"Yeah well Uncle Jeremy acted the way he did because he was grieving the loss of Grandma and Grandpa Gilbert. Alex is doing it to just be a douche."

"Maybe so."

"At least you're not going through it too. I don't think I could handle the two of you like this." Sara said as she floated closer to Nick.

Nick scoffed. "I would never do what Alex is doing. Besides I don't think you'd have to."

"Meaning?" Sara asked as she lifted her sunglasses off her face.

"Mom and Dad would likely have killed us both by now if that had happened." Nick laughed.

"This is very true." Sara giggled as Chief whined and barked from the sidelines. His kids were laughing which meant they were having fun…without him.

"Chief, cool it man." Nick said to the dog who paced by the edge.

"He thinks were having fun without him. Why don't you throw the ball for him?" Sara said as she nodded towards the floating pool ball next him.

"Sure. Hey Chief, go long." He said as he snatched up the ball and threw it farther out into the back yard. Chief barked and raced around the pool as he saw Nick reach for the ball and when he sent it flying Chief was nothing but a blur as he took off after it.

"Quiet at last." Nick sighed as he leaned back in the inner tube, his arms folded behind his head. Sara splashed him in response. "Hey!" he shouted. Nick sat up and wiped the water from his face, throwing his sunglasses onto the ground. Just as he was about to retaliate a large splash was heard as the two siblings were knocked of their floats from the wave.

"Hey!" they both sputtered. When they were able to see clearly, Chief was swimming up to them with the pool ball in his mouth.

"Dude!" Nick shouted, but was taken over by a fit of laughter.

"Sounds like you three are having fun." Elena said from where she stood on the patio, still dressed in her work clothes.

"Hi Mom." Sara and Nick said.

"Where are your father and Alex?" She asked.

"Uncle Stefan called saying he needed help with something at the house." Sara replied.

"And he took Alex with him?" Elena said with a raise of an eyebrow.

"He said and I quote ' _You kids deserve a break from your brother.'_ So he dragged Alex to the car and Sara and I have been able to have a relaxing afternoon." Nick said with an a-matter-of-fact tone and a smirk on his face.

"I see. You know I don't think we've told you two how much we appreciate you helping with your brother." Elena sighed feeling guilty all of a sudden.

"Mom, we want to help Alex. We really do." Sara said as she reached for the ball from Chief.

"We know you guys don't like who he's become lately and quite frankly neither do we." Nick said putting in his two cents.

"But the only one who can change Alex is Alex." Sara finished and Elena quickly realized how much Alex's behavior was truly affecting her other children. She hated the feeling that she couldn't take their pain away.

"Yes, well hopefully Alex will start making the necessary changes to his life." Elena said before turning to walk inside. "If your dad and Alex are gonna be much longer at your uncle's what do you two say to ordering out for dinner tonight?" she called over her shoulder.

Now usually when Damon couldn't be home to make dinner Sara would, so the fact that Elena was giving the option to ordering out showed to Sara and Nick how guilty their mother was truly feeling. Knowing Sara was going to offer to cook something, Nick quickly responded.

"That sounds great mom! If Dad says they won't be much longer can you tell him to like stay there for another hour or two?" Nick laughed and Sara could tell it was slightly forced. That or it was just a really bad joke Nick was trying to make himself laugh at. Sara splashed him to get him to shut up. "Hey!" he said before he playfully tried to drown Sara.

* * *

The next morning Sara was up early cooking breakfast. She had woken up an hour earlier this morning and couldn't fall back a sleep. She didn't really see the point since she was supposed to be up in an hour so she and Chief got an early start to the day. They went for their run and when they came back to the house before 6am Sara decided to get started on breakfast. She was currently flipping French toast on the griddle when Damon came down the stairs in a t-shirt and a pair of pajama bottoms.

"You're up early." He said as he grabbed the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. He knew she had gotten up earlier than usual and then heard her and Chief go off for their morning run, but when he heard her starting breakfast instead of getting ready for school when they got back Damon decided to get up and see if she was alright.

"Couldn't sleep." Sara replied.

Damon stared at her as he sipped his coffee. Something was definitely up. "Is everything alright, Sara?" he pried gently.

"Everything's fine Daddy." She said as she transferred the finished slices to a plate and put new ones on the hot surface.

"If this has something to do with your brother…"

"It doesn't. At least I hope it doesn't. I just…have a feeling and I don't know what it is or what it means is all." Sara sighed before looking at her father.

"A feeling?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A feeling. I can't explain it, but I just feel like something is going to happen today."

"Good something? Bad Something?"

"I don't know. Like I said, it's just a feeling. I'm probably just being silly."

"Sara," Damon sighed. "I've been around long enough to know that this feeling you're having is probably for a reason. We just don't know what the reason is yet." He said as he wrapped his arm around her, mindful of the hot griddle.

"Maybe. Just promise me something?"

"Anything Princess."

"Just be careful today." She said as she leaned her head on Damon's shoulder.

"Sure thing." He replied as he planted a kiss to the top of her head.

"That goes for you too, Mom." Sara said before going back to flipping French toast.

"How is it that she knows when we're listening? If I was still up in bed listening, would you have said that?" Elena asked her daughter.

"No, I would've waited till you were down here, but here you are." Sara replied with a smirk.

"How it is you're able to tell the difference?" Damon asked, curious.

Sara shrugged. "It's just a feeling. Like a sixth sense if you will that I've come to develop over the years of being raised by vampires." She giggled. "It's kind of like that feeling when you know you're being watched, but in our case it's being eavesdropped on because our parents have super hearing abilities."

"Whoops." Damon said as he turned to get his and Elena's morning dose of blood.

"So, you have a feeling?" Elena asked.

"I have a feeling." Sara confirmed as she moved the finished slices to the plate with the others and started frying up the bacon.

"Okay, well I'll be careful today too. You be careful as well." Elena said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"I'm probably gonna be paranoid all day. If anything happens that you guys hear about will you call or text me?" Sara asked. Both Damon and Elena could tell that whatever this feeling Sara had was really bothering her.

"Of course Sweetie." Elena said as she gave Sara a hug, who hugged her back.

"Sara why don't I take over and you can go get ready for school?" Damon said as he checked the time.

"Yeah, okay Daddy." Sara said with a slight smile as she set the tongs down and made her way upstairs.

* * *

Sara entered the kitchen dressed for school to find her family at the table eating breakfast.

"'Bout time you come down." Alex sneered.

"Hey, leave her alone." Nick said as he nudged Alex.

"Boys." Elena scolded.

"Sorry." They both muttered.

Sara took her usual seat and put a couple pieces of French toast on her plate, spreading butter and syrup over them. She still had the feeling and she didn't like it. This was not a good something feeling. She ate in silence with Chief's head in her lap.

When breakfast was finished the three siblings climbed into Nick's car as it was his day to carpool.

"Have a good day!" Elena called as she got into her own car to go to work.

Nick and Sara waved from the front seat while Alex just plugged in his headphones.

* * *

"So what's this feeling you have?" Nick asked as they drove down the road.

"I don't know, I just have a feeling."

"Sounds like you're crazy if you ask me." Alex grumbled from the back seat.

"Well nobody asked you, did they?" Nick growled.

"Knock it off. I just have a feeling like something is going to happen today, so can you two just promise me that you'll be careful today?" Sara pleaded.

"Sure thing sis." Nick said with a nod as he pulled into the school parking lot for seniors.

"I still think you're crazy." Alex said.

"I'm serious Alex. Just lay low for the day okay?" Sara begged.

"Whatever." Alex grumbled before leaving the car.

"Ignore him. We'll just take it easy today. You too, Sara. Don't overdo it at practice today or something, okay?" Nick advised as they walked through the parking lot.

"Yeah, I will. I just wish this feeling would go away though." Sara admitted. "Well, I'll see you later Nick." She said as she made her way to her locker before going to AP English.

"See ya." Nick called before heading off to Chemistry class.

* * *

Throughout the day Sara was paranoid. This feeling had yet to go away and she didn't like it. Rachel had suggest that maybe she was sick and had felt her forehead at lunch. She was fine. Right before lunch had ended Damon had called her saying that nothing out of the ordinary had happened to him or around town. He even checked in with Sheriff Forbes for the hell of it and she had said the town was quiet today. While that should have made Sara feel better, it didn't. When school had ended for the day Sara had walked with Nick to pick up Alex.

"Alright you guys, I'm headed to practice."

"Jesus Sara would you lighten up? Nothing is going to happen today." Alex snapped. "How could it, we'll just be in the library…studying."

"Knock it off and ya know I have yet to actually see you study." Nick said as they stopped outside the entrance to the library.

"Whatever." Alex said as he walked in and chose a table.

"Go, have a good time a practice. Don't worry so much." Nick said before following Alex in.

Sara sighed as she walked off towards the girl's locker room. As she changed into her clothes for practice her phone started ringing.

"Hi Mom…yeah it's still there…no nothing's happened yet…everything's good on your end? Yeah dad called at lunch…I don't know…okay I love you too. Bye." Sara hung up the phone and headed out to the field with the other girls.

"Alright girls!" shouted Coach Biers as he blew his whistle.

* * *

In the library Nick had books and notebooks spread out before him while Alex lounged in the chair.

"Mr. Salvatore I will not tell you again, four legs on the floor!" chided the librarian.

"Dude, knock it off before you get us kicked out." Nick scolded.

"Would that be so bad?" moaned Alex.

"Unless you want to watch all of Sara's practice, go ahead keep it up." Alex quickly put all four chair legs on the floor. "Thought so."

For another half hour Nick studied before he stood up. "I gotta hit the rest room. Behave, I'll be right back."

"Whatever Bro. Not going anywhere." Alex said, being unproductive as usual. Nick walked out the library and went down the hall to the boy's room. Alex turned his head from staring at some cute girl to all the work Nick was doing. _'Gross.'_ Alex thought. It was then an idea struck him. Maybe he could go somewhere? Alex leaned across the table and grabbed Nick's back pack. He search all the pockets till he found what he was searching for. _'Bingo.'_ He thought as he pulled out Nick's car keys. "I declare study time over." Alex said before he quickly left the library and raced down the hall when he saw no sight of his brother. Alex ran clear to the parking lot and quickly picked Nick's car out of those that were left. He unlocked the car and got in. "Sweet freedom here I come baby!" Alex cried out in triumph as he started the car and drove away from school.

* * *

Nick exited the bathroom after washing his hands and walked back to the library. When he got back to the table and didn't see Alex he figured he might be amongst the book stacks. That was until he saw his backpack was not where he had left it.

"No!" he said as he quickly grabbed his bag and went to where he kept his keys. "No. No." he said as he checked every pocket and then the floor before finally checking his pants pockets thought it was no use. "No. No. No!" Nick shouted. He quickly shoved all of his stuff in his bag and ran for the parking lot. When he saw that his car was no longer where he had parked it this morning he swore. "Son of a bitch! Alex!" he shouted before making his way over towards the soccer field.

* * *

"So you've had this weird feeling all day?" Lizzy asked as the girls sat on the side lines for a water break.

"Yup. It just won't go away." Sara replied as her phone began to ring.

"Odd. Do you think it's a bad feeling?" Lizzy asked as she saw Nick coming towards them.

"Hi Daddy." Sara answered. "Practice is going fine."

"Hey there's Nick. That's funny, why isn't Alex with him?" Lizzy spoke, but Sara plugged her other ear to hear her father better. Suddenly it felt like Sara's stomach rose into her throat, but she wasn't sick.

"Daddy, you know that feeling I had this morning? It just got worse." Sara stated.

"Sara!" Nick shouted as he got closer, seeing the girls were on break.

Sara turned around. "Hang on Daddy, Nick's calling. That's funny, where's Alex?"

"That's what I said." Lizzy huffed.

"Sara!" Nick huffed out of breath.

"Nick? What's going on? Where's Alex?" Sara asked.

"I went to the…bathroom and Alex… Alex stole my keys." He said in between breaths. Lizzy handed him a bottle of water. "Thanks." He said as he gulped half of it down.

"Are you saying Alex stole your car?" Sara asked?

"He what?!" Damon shouted on the other end, loud enough for Nick and Lizzy to hear. Nick just nodded his head.

"Oh dear." Sara said. "Coach!"

* * *

Alex drove through town before he pulled up at the old quarry.

"No fucking way!" Shorty shouted as he saw Alex get out of the car. "Dude, how did you?"

"Jacked my brother's keys while he went to the bathroom." Alex smirked as someone handed him a beer.

"Nice!" Shorty grinned as he clapped him on the back. "Well c'mon dude." He said as he led him towards the group of teens that were drinking and smoking.

"I can't believe he did this!" Sara said as she and Nick searched the town from her car.

"I can." Nick scowled in seat beside her.

"I can see him ditching you yes, but taking your car? I can honestly say I didn't see this one coming."

* * *

When Nick informed Sara of Alex running off in Nick's car she had told the Coach she had a family emergency and needed to leave. The feeling she had all day had gotten worse before Nick told her the news and now she knew something bad was going to happen. Coach had allowed Lizzy to drive Sara and Nick home so they could get Sara's car. Damon was already off searching the town and had called Elena, then called Liz Forbes to let her know that if she saw Nick's car somewhere to call him.

"Why not, he stole dad's booze. Why not a car?" Nick grumbled as he searched out the window.

"Nick, this is serious. Who would've thought he'd stoop this low. I mean where would he go? He can't be wandering around or out in the open somewhere or else someone would've spotted him by now." Sara said as she drove past The Grill.

"Who knows, he probably met up with Shorty somewhere."

"How? He doesn't have his cell phone, it's not like he could text him and tell him he was on his way somewhere."

"Unless they planned this."

"Shorty has his own car, why take yours if Alex was going to meet with him?"

"No one said the plan was a smart one. Those two put together don't even equal half a brain. Too many fried brain cells."

"Nick." Sara tried not to giggle.

"Tell me I'm wrong." Nick challenged.

"I can't."

* * *

"God Dammit!" Damon growled as he drove around. He had yet to find Alex and it was probably a good thing because when he found him he was going to kill him. He had just gotten off the phone with Liz who informed him that there was no sign of Alex or Nick's car around town. Where would he go? He obviously hadn't gone home and he wasn't at the Grill. Matt had said he hadn't seen him come in. He started thinking of places where Shorty hung out and drove off towards the park, knowing the gazebo was still a teen hot spot. Damon's phone began to ring playing Elena's assigned tone.

"Hey Babe." He answered putting the phone on speaker.

"Hey, any sign?" Elena's voice filled the car.

"No. Liz says they haven't seen Nick's car anywhere."

"Well he's not at the park." Elena sighed.

"Fuck! I was just on my way to check there."

"Well why don't you meet me here and we can think of some other places to check together." Elena suggested.

"Alright, be there in a minute." Damon said, hanging up as he put his foot to the gas pedal.

* * *

"So the Grill, the park, the movie theater and obviously home are all out. No one's seen him or my car. Where the fuck can he be? He's not that smart to hide from us all." Nick sighed as he read off the text message from Elena.

Sara shook her head as she continued to drive around.

 _'Another reminder to everyone that the old quarry off of Shaker Rd. is off limits due to the construction going on. Please be advised that trespassers will be arrested. Other news on the quarry, the construction has been put on hold due to a bulldozer being tampered with. Both the oil and gas tanks were found leaking excess amounts into the land and needs to be cleaned up before construction can continue on according from a representative from the EPA.'_ The announcer on the radio said, finishing his news report. It suddenly hit Sara of where Alex would be.

"No, he's just an idiot." She said as she put her foot on the gas and drove out to the old quarry. The feeling she had going from bad to worse.

"Woah, Sara. Where are we going?" Nick asked as he held onto the arm rest.

"Call Mom and Dad. I know where Alex is."

"And that is?"

* * *

At the Quarry loud music was play from one of the cars as everyone chatted, smoked and drank.

"Hey guys! Check this out!" someone shouted. A group of kids walked over to the one who shouted standing not far from where the construction equipment was parked.

"Yo man, what's up?" Shorty asked.

"Watch." The kid said as he pick up a discarded cigarette butt and lit it on fire, tossing it to the ground. A small area ignited in flames before the kid quickly stomped it out.

"Awesome." Shorty responded while the others oo'd and aw'd. A few others decided to try it and in different areas to see who could get the biggest fire started.

"Ah, I don't thinks this is such a good idea." Alex said as he watched people start fires and stomp them out. Some were bigger than others, a lot bigger.

"Dude, c'mon. Lighten up." Shorty said as he tried it himself.

"Yeah, okay." Alex replied, uncertain. His words to his sister from this morning being thrown back at him. Suddenly, Alex didn't have a good feeling. "Hey man, I should get going."

"What? Why?" Shorty whined.

"It's late and my sister's practice must be over by now. I'm sure everyone's started to look for me."

"Exactly. You're already in trouble with your folks not to mention your brother, why voluntarily go home?"

"Well…" Just then a car pulled up next to Nick's.

"Alex!" Sara shouted as she and Nick go out of her car.

"Busted man." Shorty said before walking off as Nick walked right up to him.

"Give. Me. My. Keys." Nick growled. Alex reached into his pocket and handed them over.

"How did you guys know to look here?" Alex asked.

"Radio announcement." Sara said as another car pulled up. Damon and Elena got out of Damon's car as Sheriff Forbes pulled up behind them.

"You called mom and dad?" Alex hissed.

"And a good thing from the looks of it. Get in the car. You can either ride with me or mom and dad. Take your pick." Sara said. A look over at his parents quickly determined Alex's choice.

"You." He said as the two walked towards Sara's car. Nick started his car up and backed out towards the road while Sheriff Forbes was breaking up the party and stopping kids from setting more fires. Unfortunately, some of the kids had started running off when they saw that adults were arriving so not all the fires had been put out. A small patch got larger and traveled towards the bulldozer. Soon it was out of control and before the flames reached the machine there was an explosion that quickly engulfed the machine. Everyone scattered while Damon and Elena quickly grabbed Sara and Alex and brought them up to where the cars were parked by the road, a safe distance away from the explosion.

"What the hell?!" Alex shouted.

"Are you both okay?" Elena asked as she looked over her kids. Nick had thankfully moved his car to the road and was rushing over to make sure his siblings were okay.

"You guys okay?" he asked.

"Fine." Sara and Alex responded.

"I'm gonna go see if Liz is okay." Damon said before speeding away to look for the Sheriff.

"I'll call the fire department." Elena called after him.

As Elena placed the call, Sara looked at her brothers. "I told you I had a feeling." She said before all three of them turned their gaze to the fire in front of them.

* * *

Back at the Salvatore house Alex was getting the talk of a lifetime. Sara and Nick were hanging out back with their younger cousins as everyone was over after hearing about what happened. Stefan was manning the grill talking with Rick and Jeremy while Bonnie and Caroline kept a watchful eye on the kids as they ran amuck. Elena, Damon, Alex and Liz Forbes were all talking in the living room.

"Alex what on earth were you thinking?!" Elena shouted. "Not only did you ditch your brother, you stole his car!"

"About that, do either of you want to press charges? Should I ask Nick?" Liz asked.

"No, Liz we don't. I honestly don't think it'd do any good." Damon sighed.

"What about what happened with the quarry?" Elena asked, knowing that he son had been trespassing.

"A lot of the kids scattered before the explosion so no one got hurt. I doubt they'll be hanging out there again any time soon, but we're going to be adding more drive by's and monitoring it closing from now on." Liz informed.

"Any charges being pressed?" Damon asked.

"The leak from the bulldozer was well known. There's no telling who set the exact fire that started it all. It's complicated right now, but I'll keep you informed."

"Thanks Liz." Elena said as Liz walked towards the back of the house to join everyone else outside.

"Alex," Damon started.

"I know what you're gonna say dad and I shouldn't have taken Nick's car. I'm sorry." Alex apologized.

"I believe you should be saying that to your brother." Damon said before running his hand through his hair. "Alex you could've been seriously hurt today. You could've been killed. Sara and Nick could've been hurt. You knew the quarry was off-limits, why would you go there?!"

"Everyone else was there." Alex grumbled.

"And if everyone jumped off of Wickery Bridge would you?" Elena chided.

"Sara's done it." Alex muttered.

"Alex!" his parents shouted.

"That is not funny, not the same thing here!" Damon chastised. "You know what? From now on you will not be spending time with Sara or Nick after school."

"Really?" Alex said almost hopeful while Elena looked him, wondering where he was going with this.

"No, from now on I will be picking you up after school and you'll be spending your afternoons with me. We'll come home and you will sit and do your homework." Damon said.

"And if something comes up?" Elena asked.

"If it's something he can go to I'll bring him with me, if not then I'll figure it out."

"Alex, go outside. Your father and I need to talk." Alex couldn't get out of the room fast enough.

* * *

 **AN: That's chapter 3. Please review.**


	4. A Rare Moment

**AN: Alright here's chapter four. Glad to see some reviews and few more favorites to this story. I really hope you guys are enjoying this story. No warnings other than for the usual language.**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **SummerMoon: Thank you, glad you like it. Alex wasn't always like this, but as stated in chapter one via advice from Jeremy, it's going to take something drastic for Alex to get his head out of his ass. I wasn't originally going to put in the full scene of when Alex met Shorty, but perhaps I will. Maybe towards the end, make the story come full circle so to speak. ;)**

 **: Remember this is about Damon and Elena's children mainly. However, we will meet all seven of Caroline and Stefan's children along with Bonnie and Jeremy's two in chapter 5. So keep a look out for the next update. Now concerning Sara's background, that will all be revealed in due time. ;) This is mainly Sara centric as she is my favorite. I will let you in on a little secret. I will be writing a prequel to this story that will revolve around Sara's life before she came to live with the Salvatore's. But all about Sara will be found in future chapters. But for now, her mother is in prison and she's never known who her father is.**

 **Hope to see a few more reviews. Will have chapter 5 posted as soon as possible. Something short but sweet. A tender moment between the three fathers and their children while the moms are away.**

 **Now Enjoy :)**

* * *

Chapter Four – A Rare Moment

It has been a few days since the whole stolen car and quarry explosion had happened. Damon and Elena had settled on a new plan concerning who was watching Alex. Instead of Nick staying at school in the afternoons, he and Alex now came home. Damon would make sure Alex was doing his homework and if he had to go somewhere, Nick would be home to watch them. Of course, with Nick and Alex going home in the afternoons that put an end to the carpooling situation. Both Nick and Sara took their cars to school now. No charges were placed due to the explosion as the guy who had tampered with the bulldozer in the beginning accidentally gave himself away when he heard about what had happened and was arrested.

Outside of the Grill, Damon leaned on the side of his vehicle in the parking lot. A smile broke out on his face as a familiar car pulled up a few parking spaces away. Elena threw her car into park and got out of her car, all but running into her husband's arms. "Damon!" she called as she kissed him hard.

"You know I thought we were going to have lunch here, but perhaps we should have it at home?" he laughed as he gave her a look that could still melt her insides.

"Oh like not being home has ever stopped us before." Elena laughed as she practically bounced in place. Damon knew she was excited about something from when she had called him from work to see if they could meet for lunch.

"True, we have had some good times in this old place." He laughed. "Now, what's this news that you have to tell me?" he asked as he held the door open for her.

"Well, you know about the conference that's being held in Richmond this weekend?"

Damon nodded as they slid into a booth. "The one about the pollution from the power plant?"

"Exactly. Well Mystic Falls Daily wants to put a story in about it and they asked me to cover it!" Elena exclaimed.

"That's great baby!" Damon smiled as he leaned across the table to kiss her.

"Isn't it! They want me to cover the entire conference so they're paying for a room and I was thinking…" she said giving Damon a knowing look. "That we could go away for the weekend."

Damon smirked. "Baby, as much as I would love to spend a weekend away with you I'm fairly certain that when we came back we'd only have two breathing children or no children at all as they'd kill each other. Besides, I don't trust Alex to not try and pull something if either of us were gone." He sighed as the waitress came to take their order.

Upon the waitress leaving, Elena sighed. "You're right. We can't ask Nick and Sara to keep an eye on Alex all weekend."

"But you know what you can do? Why don't you asked Caroline and Bonnie to go with you and make it a girl's weekend. You know time away from the husbands and kids, I think you're supposed to do those every so often."

"Oh yes, I believe that's what keeps us from eat our young." Elena said with a roll of her eyes.

"That could be taken with multiple meanings." Damon laughed.

"True, but you're right. I should see if they'll go with me."

"I'm sorry, what was that? I'm right? I don't hear that nearly enough." Damon laughed as the waitress came back with their food.

"Oh stop it." Elena said as she flicked a french fry at him.

"Hey!" he said as he prick up the fry and ate it.

"So if I take the girls with me then that means you husbands will have to watch all the children. You sure that we'll still have three kids when I get back?"

Damon scoffed. "If we only had two would that be so bad? We could send Chief to school in Alex's place, at least we'd know his grades would improve."

"You're terrible." Elena laughed, as bad as it was she couldn't help it and that fact that it was probably true made it all the funnier. While Alex had been grounded his grades had yet to improve, in fact he'd even landed a few detentions for skipping class. It was no wonder Damon didn't want to leave for the weekend no matter how much he actually wanted to. Alex was bound to try something with them out of town wither or not they had someone stay at the house. While Elena knew they could probably ship Alex off to stay at either her brother's or Caroline's or even go as far as to ask Alaric to stay at the house, they hated imposing on others. Elena's laughter died and the smile on her face turned to surprise and then a scowl as she watched the front door. "Sara Alyssa Salvatore! What are earth are you doing out of school?" Elena demanded as she saw her daughter walk towards them.

"Hi Mom. Hi Dad." She said with a smile.

"I say again, why aren't you in school?" Elena asked.

"Relax." She said as she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. "I won the senior raffle and got a pass for free lunch at the grill and thought I'd use it today. I get both lunch periods off to come." She explained as she showed her parents the lunch pass from school.

"That's great, honey. Hey does that free lunch extend to others?" Damon asked.

"It does not." Matt said as he walked by them. "Usual Sara?" he called.

"Yeah, with a vanilla milk shake please." Sara said as she slid into the booth next to Damon.

"Bacon?" The look Sara gave him made him quickly write bacon down on her order. "Stupid question." Matt said as he walk past them again to put the ticket in the window.

Sara laughed. "So besides lunch, what are you guys up too?" Sara asked, she could see the excitement that was still radiating off of her mother.

"Your mother's work is sending her to Richmond for the weekend to cover the conference that's going on concerning the pollution from the power plant." Damon informed his daughter.

"Wow! That's great mom." Sara smiled.

"Thank you, Sweetie."

"So are you two going away for the weekend?"

"No, your father is going to stay home with you and the boys, but I am going to see if your Auntie Care and Aunt Bonnie want to come with me. Sort of a girl's weekend."

"Awesome, but Daddy you could totally go with Mom. Nick and I can handle Alex." Sara offered.

"Thanks Princess, but I'm gonna stay home with you kids. If your aunts go with your mother then your uncles and I can have a guy's weekend."

"With us kids?" Sara smirked.

"With you kids." Damon nodded.

"Well in that case, can I go to a party Saturday night?" Sara asked, biting her lip.

"Sara, if there was something you wanted to do this weekend, why did you offer to keep an eye on your brother?" Elena sighed.

"Because I don't mind and you guys deserve a weekend away."

"Thank you Sweetie, but your father and I told you that when we set this punishment for Alex that you and your brother were not to put your lives on hold."

"So I can go to the party?"

"Now hold on a minute. What party? Who's throwing it and will there be parents present?" Damon chimed in going into over protective dad mode.

"Joey Lewis, he's on the football team with Bobby and Link. He's throwing a big party at his house and yes his parents know." Sara said as Matt set down a plate of food in front of her along with a vanilla milk shake.

"Hey you taking about the Lewis party?" he asked. "I gave Link permission to go. Mr. Lewis was in here the other day and I asked him about it. They know about the party, rented a tent for the back yard and everything. Guess it's a last day of summer party or whatever."

"Thanks Matt." Elena said before looking at Damon. It wasn't often Sara asked to go to a party or for anything for that matter and she deserved to act like a teenager.

Damon sighed. "Does Nick want to go too?" he asked and Elena kicked him under the table. "Ow." He muttered.

"No Nick doesn't want to go, but Link is going and so is Bobby. Lizzy wants to go too, but her parents won't let her unless I go and I really, really want to go. Please?" Sara begged and if she was begging it meant she really wanted this.

Elena smiled and Damon groaned. "Okay, okay you can go, but there is to be absolutely no drinking or smoking. Or boys, absolutely no boys." Damon said though this was Sara he talking to here.

"Oh thank you Daddy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Sara said as she hugged Damon and then moved to the other side to hug her mother.

"Your welcome baby. Just be smart and if anything happens you'll call your dad, right? Promise me, even if you end up drinking you'll call?" Elena said seriously to her daughter. Both she and Damon had always told their children that if they were ever in any trouble that they could always call and they would come get them no matter what happened or where they were.

Sara nodded. "I promise, but I don't plan on drinking or smoking or anything."

"Yes, but things do happen. So before you go I want details and for you to make sure your phone is charged." Damon said.

"I will Daddy." Sara said as her phone buzzed in her pocket. "That's my alarm. I gave myself five minutes to get to school before the class bell. I got to go."

"Okay, sweetie. Have a good time in class and we can talk later on when you get home." Elena said as she hugged her daughter good bye.

"Okay. Bye, love you both and thank you." Sara said with a smile as she hugged and kissed both her parents and quickly rushed out of the Grill.

Damon shook his head. "We're really going to let her go, alone?"

"Damon Salvatore, she's not a little girl anymore. She a good girl and can take care of herself. Besides Link will be there and Lizzy, she'll be fine. Plus if anything happens she'll call. She deserves to have some fun and act her age for once. She's going and you are not to tell her otherwise when I leave tomorrow night." Elena chided.

Damon sighed. "Ok, alright. She can go."

"And no stalking out the party."

"That would be rather difficult with Alex. I'll just see if I can get Nick to go with her." He said thoughtfully. Elena just rolled her eyes at her husband. They finished their lunch and then Elena went back to work and Damon went to the town hall to deal with some council stuff.

* * *

When Elena walked through the front door after work she was met with a very exuberant looking Caroline.

"Hey, there's my favorite sister-in-law and best friend! I cannot tell you how excited I am for this weekend. Do we have to leave tomorrow night, can't we leave in the morning? Ohhh, let's leave tonight! Get the party started early!"

"Hi Caroline, uh how much have you had to drink?" Elena asked warily. "And we can't leave tonight because we all have to work tomorrow, remember?" She had called both Bonnie and Caroline on her way to work and they screamed at the idea of a girl's weekend away.

"Hardly any, okay well maybe a glass of wine or two. Elena, I cannot tell you how much I need this. I love my kids but seven, Elena. Seven. I need some kid free time." She said.

"Ah uh. What did Alex do?" Elena sighed. She knew Caroline all too well and when she started complaining about kids it was usually her students. Yes, she had seven children, but they were the most well behaved children in the world. They hardly fought and when they did it was usually quickly settled. While she understood the need to get away sometimes even with well-behaved children, there was something about Care's tone that made her wonder what her youngest child had been up too. He'd been too quiet as of late since the whole car fiasco, another reason why Damon insisted on staying home.

"Yes, Caroline. What did Alexander do?" Damon said as he came down the stairs. Currently none of the kids were home, but were due back any minute. Sara's practice would be just about done and Nick had to drive carpool because Sara's car was making a funny sound when she went to start it up this morning and the tires on Alex car were all flat due to lack of use. Though when Damon when to fill them up before working on Sara's car they had refused to inflate, it wasn't till he took a closer look that all four had small slash marks in them. Wither someone had slashed his tires on purpose or Alex did it himself he was unsure of.

"Well, it wasn't in my class. Lord knows if that boy did that in my class he would not be breathing right now."

"Spit it out Caroline!" Elena snapped.

"Alex has detention all next week because he stole a can of paint from the art room and propped it up on John Fields' door. And when he opened it…."

"Covered in paint?" Elena finished.

"Bright neon pink."

"Fuck!" Damon swore. "Why didn't the school call us?"

"It happened during fourth period and Stefan and I dealt with John. Turns out Shorty was involved as well and while he got suspended we were able to talk John into detention for Alex since he's never done anything like this before other than skip class and that his grades are terrible."

"Well thank you Caroline for that." Elena said as she made a beeline for the bottle of wine on the coffee table in the living room and took a long drink from it.

"Where we wrong to step in?" Caroline asked, confused.

"No it's fine Caroline. We appreciate you and Stefan handling it and obviously you told us after it happened as soon as you could." Damon explained.

"Maybe we shouldn't go to Richmond. I can get Jane or Martin to cover the story."

"No." Whined Caroline.

"No." Damon said as he joined Elena. "You're going. You're going to cover the story for work and then relax with Caroline and Bonnie for the weekend. I will deal with Alex and everything else. Caroline, what do you know about this Joey Lewis kid?"

"Damon, she's going." Elena groaned.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something? Does Sara, my sweet niece Sara, have a date?" Caroline said almost hopeful.

"Over my dead body!" Damon growled.

"Well it's a little late for that, Damon." Caroline snickered.

"No Caroline, she doesn't have a date. But this Joey Lewis is throwing a party and a bunch of kids are going, including Link and Sara asked to go. We just want to know more about him." Elena explained.

"Oh, well he's a good kid. Lives over at the old white mansion, remember the one Klaus and his family hoarded themselves in all those years ago? That one. His parents have a ton of money. He's on the football team and a senior, so Stefan would have him now. I haven't had him since last year. But yeah, he's a pretty good kid, good grades, is never in any sort of trouble. So you're letting Sara go? Is Nick going?"

"Yes, we are and no he's not. At least Sara said he wasn't, but if he wants to he can." Elena said. "We've felt kind of guilty lately what with Nick and Sara always keeping an eye on Alex. In fact Sara had even told Damon he could go with me so we could have a weekend away when she found out."

"But when she found out I was staying home she asked to go to the party and well, it kind of hit us that even though we told them not too, we have two pretty great kids who care about their brother and they seem to pretty much have given up their social lives. They deserve to not have to keep an eye on their brother who is the same age as they are when they haven't screwed up their lives." Damon finished.

"Yeah, they're pretty great. Now Elena, about this weekend…" Caroline started as she dragged Elena towards the kitchen while a car could be heard coming up the drive. Chief quickly got up from his bed in the living room and started barking, running towards the door.

"Kids are home." Damon called.

"Do not start yelling at Alex!" Elena yelled. "Drag him into the kitchen and then _we_ can yell at him together."

"Baby, I love you!" Damon called causing laughter to sound from the kitchen. He opened the front door for Chief who quickly dashed outside and up to Nick's parked car. Chief knew better than to run up to a moving car no matter who it was, Sara had taught him early on to wait on the porch. "Hey kids!" he waved to them.

"Alex, I can't believe you!" Sara shouted as she slammed the front passenger door. "You covered VP Fields in paint. Bright pink paint, Alex!"

"Oh like you didn't laugh Sara, c'mon! He's a prick! It was funny." Alex rolled his eyes at his sister's dramatics.

"No dude, it was embarrassing." Nick said as he shut his door and walked around the car.

"Oh c'mon! If anyone else had done it, you would have found it funny as hell." Alex whined.

"Maybe so, but the fact that our brother who doesn't have to greatest track record right now and is hanging around with some rat faced low life…"

"Hey Shorty's not that bad!"

"Rat-faced low life and it was embarrassing." Sara said through clenched teeth. "Not to mention you could've been suspended along with him. Lucky for you Auntie Care and Uncle Stefan were there to talk him out of it." She finished before she was so rudely interrupted by Alex trying to defend that thing he called a friend.

"Why do you care? It would mean less time for you and Nick to babysit me for Mom and Dad." Sneered Alex.

Sara just stared at her brother who at one point in her life had been her best friend. She didn't recognize this Alex anymore. "Alex if you don't get why Nick and I agreed to helping out, trying to help _you_ out, then clearly you've had your head in your ass for far longer than we thought." She huffed before rushing up the stairs and into the house. "Hi Daddy." She muttered as she passed him with Chief at her heels.

Nick just shook his head at his brother. "Dude." He said before he followed his sister into the house.

Alex just stood there in the front yard. "Seriously?!" he shouted. Damon cleared his throat and Alex finally realized his father was standing there for the first time. "How long have you been standing there?" he asked sheepishly.

"Oh since the car came up the drive way and before you try to blame anything on your brother and sister, your Aunt Caroline is in the kitchen with your mother. She told us what happened at school."

"Dad, even you got to admit that Fields is a jackass."

"Inside. Kitchen. Now." Damon growled.

Alex sighed. "Yeah, I'm going."

* * *

Dinner in the Salvatore house was a tense affair. Damon had cooked up his Cajun Chicken Alfredo as it was fairly quick and easy. He had denied help from Sara as he was sure instead of sautéing chicken she was more likely to stab Alex. Not that Damon hadn't had the thought of doing that as well. Before dinner, he and Elena had talked to Alex about his actions and how disappointed they were in him. While he was still on his ultimate grounding, Damon and Elena had decided that Alex was going to replace the paint he had stolen from the art class by going to the hardware store and would be buying several new cans of paint with his own money to donate to the art program. Naturally Alex had thrown a fit about it and went off about how it was his money, which lead to a very heated argument with Damon threatening that they would just take it out of his allowance that he currently wasn't getting and wouldn't be getting till the amount was paid for. That just lead to even more shouting between father and son till Elena put a stop to it and sent Alex to his room and Damon to the kitchen to prepare dinner for their two other starving children.

Now at the table, the table of five sat quietly eating before the silence began to drive Elena crazy. She was not going to let her last family dinner with her husband and kids till she came back sometime on Sunday consist of silence.

"So Nick, Sara told us about the Lewis Party and we gave her permission to go. Since Alex with be with your father and Jeremy at your Uncle Stefan's, would you like to go as well?" Elena asked him.

"Oh, uh thanks mom, but I really had no interest in going. I mean the whole dumb jock scene…" Sara cleared her throat while raising an eyebrow at her brother. "Present company excluded." He said with a roll of his eyes, but smirked all the same. Sara lowered the eyebrow and turned her attention back to her food. "I really just don't want to go…" Nick turned his attention from his mother to his father. "And for the record, Sara can handle herself. Besides Link is going, he can look out for her though she's been able to kick his ass since we were little and still can." Nick said with a wink in Sara's direction who smiled at him in appreciation. While it was no secret to anyone that she was daddy's little girl, she didn't like that fact that he still treated her like a fragile child. She had never been fragile a day in her life, her birth mother had saw to that.

"Okay, okay. Note taken. Sara is going to the party and Nick if you want to come with me and Alex you can, but you can stay home if you want too." Damon huffed.

"Thanks Dad. I'd be happy to spend some time with everyone. Besides someone as to look after the younger kids while you, Uncle Stefan, Jeremy and Rick drink." Nick smirked. Sara and Elena giggled into their glasses of water.

"Hey, we watch the kids." Damon defended himself.

"Yeah for all of two seconds." Alex mumbled as he stabbed at a piece of chicken.

"Just what a mother wants to hear before she and two other mothers go away for the weekend and leave their husbands and the fathers of their children in charge." Elena chided with a smirk.

"And we'll be just fine." Damon assured. "And that enough out of you two." He said given his sons a knowing glance. Nick and Alex just shared a knowing look between them before going back to eating, identical smirked on their faces. The sound of a chair protesting as it was forced back across the floor away from the table interrupted the tender family moment.

"Excuse me." Sara said before practically running out of the kitchen and up the stairs with Chief running after her.

"I got it." Elena said as she stood and walked out of the kitchen after her daughter.

* * *

Upstairs Elena gently knocked on Sara's door before she let herself in. "Sara, sweetie?" Elena called. Inside Sara was sitting at her window seat with Chief's head in her lap. She stroked his head gently as a few tears escaped from her eyes. She quickly wiped them away as she saw her mother come into her room. "Oh honey, what's the matter?" Elena asked as she joined Sara on the seat and wrapped her arms around her.

"Nothing, it's stupid." Sara said avoiding eye contact with her mother.

"Sara talk to me. What's upset you?" Elena asked concerned. "Despite all the yelling from earlier, dinner was going rather well."

"Yeah, too well." Sara muttered.

"Explain."

Sara sighed. "It was normal, Mom. Like it always was or well used to be any way. It was nice."

"It has been in a while since it's been like this hasn't it?" Elena asked while rubbing her back in a soothing motion.

Sara sighed. "I don't know what it was more that upset me, the fact that dinner was like it used to be or knowing that this was a rare moment of peace within the storm that is hurricane Alex." Sara sniffled.

"Oh baby, things will get better I promise you. It's a phase and it will pass." Elena assured.

"Guess it's a phase Nick and I skipped." Sara said.

"Perhaps, but I'm sure the two of you could have other phases that Alex doesn't go through. Just do your father and I a favor and wait till Alex is out of this one before you go running off with some biker gang and get tattoos or your brother decides to run off with some girl, okay." Elena joked.

"Now wait a minute, why do I have to become the tatted up biker skank while Nick runs off with some bimbo?" Sara scoffed.

"You wanna run off with some bimbo? Sara is there something you want to tell me?" Elena inquired.

"Mom!" Sara laughed.

"Okay, so you don't have to run off with some biker gang and I'm sure Nick would never run off with some gold digging hussy."

"So we've gone from Bimbo to Gold Digging Hussy, eh?"

Elena shrugged. "What can I say? No one will ever be good enough for any of my children." She stated.

"Alright Mom. Whatever you say." Sara said.

"And don't you forget missy. Now, shall we go back down stairs and finish dinner?" Elena asked.

Sara nodded. "Okay, let's go. And for the record I'd never get a tattoo."

"I know, I know. You're fear of needles." Elena laughed and together, mother and daughter left the room, went down stairs and back into the kitchen.

"Everything alright?" Nick asked.

"Everything's fine sweetie." Elena smiled at her oldest child as Damon set down both her and Sara's plates in front of them. The steam coming off them indicated that he had reheated them up for them. "Thank you Darling."

"Thanks Daddy." Sara smiled softly before tucking into her dinner. She knew her father had heard the conversation she and her mother had just had upstairs.

"Sara, have you been crying?" Alex asked. "What is it your…ow!" he shouted as Damon kicked him under the table and Nick stomped on the foot closest to him while Elena glared at her youngest child.

"Young man if you want to live to see your next birthday I suggest you never ever finish that sentence or say it fully to your sister or any other women." She scolded.

"Sorry." Alex muttered before stuffing his face.

"Yup, rare moment." Sara sighed under her breath as the family continued on with their dinner.

* * *

 **AN: That's chapter 4. Hope you all enjoyed it. Chapter 5 will be up soon I'm hoping. Please review.**


	5. The Moms are Gone!

**AN: Here's chapter 5. A sweet short chapter that introduces the rest of the children and a little drama naturally. Chapter 6 should be up in a few days. It's pretty much done just have a few things to add in. Love that this story is getting more attention. More followers and even a few favorites. Keep up with the reviews, love you guys!**

 **Response to reviews:**

 **TVDTVDTVD: Thank you so much, glad you are enjoying this story. :)**

 **Jadecrazymusiclover: Glad you're enjoying the story. Thank you! (:**

 **Enjoy! – LS**

* * *

Chapter 5 – The Moms Are Gone

The next evening Elena, Caroline and Bonnie were loading their bags into Damon's SUV as it had more space than Elena's car for their luggage.

"Ok, I think that's everything." Caroline spoke as she moved her sunglasses to the top of her head.

"You know you're only going to be gone for the weekend, right Caroline? That's two days and two nights?" Damon said from where he stood on the sidelines with his fellow members of the husband's club. Caroline as always had several bags compared to Elena and Bonnie's one or two bags.

"Presents, Uncle Damon." Little Jasmine said as she skipped up to her favorite uncle, her straight brown hair in pigtail braids. Jasmine was the youngest child of Stefan and Caroline at the age of seven and was in the second grade, she was of Latina decent with golden sunk kissed skin and wide, brown, doe eyes. "Mommy promised us each a present."

"If you all promise to behave in return." Stefan continued as he lifted his daughter into his arms.

"And we will." came the voice of Stefan and Caroline's oldest, Darren at the age of 15. He was of average height and weight, with pale skin, his face covered in its recent acne breakout. He had blue eyes and black shaggy hair.

"Oh my baby. I'm going to miss you so much." Caroline said as she hugged Darren to her against his will.

"Mom." He whined. He was at the age where hugging your mom was uncool.

"You'll see them all in two days, Care." Elena said from where she stood by the SUV.

"Go on you guys, get out of here. We got this!" Sara shouted from where she, Nick, and Callie, the second oldest child of Stefan and Caroline at the age of 14 stood on the front porch.

"And with that we take our leave!" Bonnie said as she hugged Jeremy and then her two children, Joseph and Emily. Joey was 12 and in the seventh grade and Emily was in the 5th grade at the age of 9.

"Bye mom." Emily said as Bonnie got into the car, her long black hair in a single braid.

"Try to have some fun, Baby." Damon said as he held Elena to him while Sara and Nick made their way over. The slam of the screen door signaling the appearance of Alex to say his goodbyes.

"Oh I'm sure we will. Try not to kill Alex." Elena giggled.

"No promises." Damon smirked with a roll of his eyes.

"Everything will be fine Mom." Nick said as he gave his mother a hug.

"Like I said we got this." Sara said with a very Damon like smirk as she hugged her mother next.

"I know you do, Baby. Have fun at the party. I can't wait to hear all about it and if your dad tries to give you a hard time you let me know." Elena said as she hugged Sara.

"I said she could go." Damon huffed causing Sara to giggle.

"Will do." She responded as Elena moved to hugged Alex.

"Try to have fun and behave, please honey? Don't give your father and your brother and sister a hard time. And help out with the younger kids." Elena said as she hugged Alex, who somehow still reeked of pot. Unsure if he'd gotten a new supply, Elena chalked it up to the jacket he was wearing knowing it hadn't been washed in weeks. His entire room had practically absorbed the smoke from the pot and it reeked still.

"Whatever." Was Alex's reply but he hugged his mother all the same.

During the time it took Elena and Bonnie to say good bye to their husbands and children, Caroline was still hugging and kissing her own. Working her way down from Darren to Jasmine, ending finally with a hug and kiss to Stefan. When the kiss lasted longer than it should, Elena honked the horn.

"Alright already." Caroline huffed, giving Stefan one last kiss before jumping in the back of the SUV.

"Behave, all of you!" all three women said from the car as Elena drove away.

"Bye!" everyone shouted as they waved goodbye.

"And….they're gone!" Jeremy shouted when the SUV was out of sighed. "Everyone to the pool!" he laughed before running into the house. The younger kids laughed and ran after their uncle so they could all change into their swim suites.

"Sara, will you help me?" Jasmine asked as she looked up to her older cousin.

"Sure I will." Sara smiled as she held out her hand and together the oldest and youngest of the Salvatore girls walked into the house.

Once everyone was in their suits all the kids were in the pool along with Jeremy who seemed to act like the biggest kid of them all. Damon and Stefan were working on grilling burgers and hot dogs for dinner with Chief going back and forth between begging for meat and playing by the pool with the kids splashing water at him to catch in his mouth.

"So Rick's coming over to the house tomorrow afternoon?" Damon asked as he flipped a few burgers.

Stefan nodded as he took a drink from his beer. "Yup. Told him how the girls were leaving for the weekend during lunch. Said he could come see them off tonight, but he wanted to get his grading for the weekend done that way he wouldn't have to worry about it come Sunday with whatever impending hangover he plans to have." Stefan smirked.

"Well we all know how Rick likes his scotch." Damon commented.

"Yeah, so you're really letting Sara go to this party?"

"I have been given no choice. Elena threatened no sex if I tried to spy on her or stop her from going in any way. Stef, sex is the only thing keeping me from killing Alex."

"Really, and the unconditional love for one's child has nothing to do with it?"

"Is that what this feeling is?" Damon asked with an eye roll before sighing. "I just wish that boy would get his act together. Elena actually thought of giving someone else the story to cover because of what happened yesterday at school. Thank you for that by the way."

"No problem, Brother. Just be glad Fields is new and has yet to learn that in a town controlled by vampires that one should be on vervain."

"You mean he's not? Dude really is a prick, isn't he? Wait, you mean if you hadn't compelled him, Alex was getting suspended after all?" Damon asked.

Stefan nodded. "He was."

Damon sighed. "You know, eventually we can't keep getting him out of trouble. Maybe that's what we're doing wrong. While we punish him, he never really gets in major trouble and has to take responsibility for his actions. He's been in detention, obviously that kid is going to be grounded for life, but there has been no change. I almost think things are getting worse."

"Well, no one said that parenting was easy. Despite those parenting books, there really are no instructions for raising kids." Stefan advised.

"You and Caroline are doing pretty great with your seven." Damon pointed out.

"Yeah well the majority of them haven't hit their teen years and Callie and Darren look up to Nick and Sara, but hey it's still early. You've got the oldest kids, the rest of us just learn from yours and Elena's experiences and mistakes."

"Your welcome." Damon said with another eye roll.

"Besides, I can't wait to see how Jeremy and Bonnie handle Joey's teen years." Stefan said as he located his nephew in the pool. Joey had been playing pass with one of the balls with Darren, Nick and Ben, Darren's 10 year old little brother. Darren had thrown the ball towards Joey and it had accidently splashed Emily in the face. Darren shouted his apology and encouraged her to throw it back to him. She smiled and went to grab the ball, but Joey snatched it from her saying the game was for boys only. Jeremy quickly diffused the situation and made Joey sit out on the edge of the pool for a few minutes till he had to apologize to his sister.

"Nope. Not looking forward to those years." Damon nodded in agreement.

* * *

It had gotten late and the younger kids were running around the back yard with glow sticks in their hands, on their wrists, around their necks or heads while the older ones sat around the fire roasting marshmallows for s'mores. While they were having the time of their lives the three fathers knew they were just buying time till the younger kids had to go to bed and a few fits would be had.

"Why did we think letting all three women go on this trip was going to be good thing?" Jeremy asked from where he, Stefan and Damon stood not far from the fire, watching over their brood. They were also making sure not of the kids ran near the in ground pool that was only a few feet away.

"I do believe the phrase 'Happy Wife, Happy Life' does come to mind there, Jer." Damon said as he took a sip from his glass of bourbon.

"Not to mention we weren't given much of a choice." Stefan voiced.

"Point made." Jeremy sighed as all three dads took a sip from their drinks. Just then one of Stefan's children came up to them.

"Dad, we're out of graham crackers." Said Billy with a sticky marshmallow and chocolate grin, he was 8 years old and was Ricky's twin brother. Both boys had tan skin, sandy hair, and bright blue eyes. While Billy had been making s'mores with Sara and the others, Ricky was running amuck with other cousins.

"It's about time to stop making s'mores and get ready for bed, Buddy." Stefan said as he checked his watch. It was already 9:30pm and well past Jasmine and the twin's bedtime.

"Aw man." Billy whined but turned around and ran back to the fire.

"Bout time we rangle up the kids for beddie-by time?" Damon asked as he downed the remains of his glass.

"Yeah this is gonna be fun." Stefan said sarcastically.

"Hey no problem, Brother." Damon said as he clapped him on the shoulder.

"Damon, you've been out of the child care under 10 game for a while..." Stefan stared before Damon sped away and towards the fire. In seconds he was back beside Stefan and Jeremy.

"Got it covered." Damon said. Just then a whistle was heard.

"Let's go, everyone inside!" Sara called by the fire. "Time to get washed up and get ready for bed." A round of groans was heard and a few started to protest. "Ah uh uh, any whining and no movie camp out in the living room." Sara warned and quickly everyone ran towards the house.

Damon gave Stefan a look. "Secret weapon right there." He said with a smirk.

"I don't know how she does it, but do you have to let her go to the party tomorrow night?" Jeremy whined much the kids.

"Unfortunately, I do Jer. I've been given no choice in the matter, plus she deserves to have some fun."

"Yeah I think we can handle our own kids for a night, plus we still got Nick and even Alex is helpful when it comes to his cousins." Stefan said as he looked to his two oldest nephews who were taking care of putting out the fire.

"Not to mention Rick is gonna be with us tomorrow night and the kids love Rick." Damon said as the three dads made their way towards the kitchen back door.

"True, it's just Sara has a way with kids. They just do whatever she tells them too."

"Yeah I know. I'm her father. She has that effect on everyone. That girl has had me wrapped around her finger since the day Alex introduced Elena and I to her that day back when they were in kindergarten." Damon said.

"And who would've thought it would eventually lead to you guys adopting her." Jeremy said.

"Yeah really, but one of the best things we've ever done was get her away from that bitch and her string of bastard boyfriends." Damon growled.

"Yeah, but it took her jumping off a bridge for that to happen." Jeremy pointed out.

"For anyone to find out you mean. Sara was a scared, damaged little girl who hadn't known any sort of kindness in her life and didn't know what else was out there before she started school. Despite how she was treated at home if someone treated her with kindness she responded with kindness. There was no reason for anyone to suspect that anything was wrong in that house till it was out in the open." Stefan said as they started to clean up the kitchen.

"I guess you have a point..."

"Change the topic of conversation." Damon demanded, interrupting Jeremy.

"Please do." Sara said from were she stood by the entrance to the kitchen. Chief let out a loud snort beside her.

"Sara..." Jeremy started.

"The kids are all dressed in their pjs and waiting for their dads in the living room to come say goodnight so we can start the movie." Sara said with a pointed look to her uncles.

"Right. Thanks for handling in the kids, Sara." Stefan said.

"No problem, I guess it's just the effect I have on children." She said sarcastically but forced a smile all the same.

"Time to go." Jeremy said as he and Stefan all but ran from the kitchen to give kisses and hugs to their children.

"How did you...?"

"You guys were outside and the windows are open and your not as quiet as you three think you are. I'm just in the other room. You may have hightened hearing, but also some pretty big mouths." Sara snapped.

"Watch your tone young lady." Damon scolded with a hard gaze.

"Uh oh, is Miss. Perfect getting in trouble?" Alex laughed as he and Nick came inside. Damon turned his gaze to his sons before he looked back at Sara and could see the hurt in her eyes.

"I am not damaged!" She snapped before turning on her heel and running for the stairs.

"Huh?" Alex said confused.

"Who the fuck said Sara was damaged?" Nick demanded, going into protective big brother mode.

"Stefan!" Damon shouted.

"What?" Stefan asked as he ran into the the kitchen.

"You?" The boys said as they pointed at their uncle. Nick had always been the protective older brother when needed and despite his behavior as of late, Alex was not going to let anyone get away with hurting his sister when it came to her past. It was still a sensitive subject even after all these years. It was a big no no subject in their house.

"What'd I do?" Stefan asked. He'd been too busy having his ears chewed off by his children to have heard the conversation going on in the kitchen.

"You owe my daughter, your sweet, amazing niece who just made your children's bedtime easy on you, an apology. Now." Damon said through gritted teeth as he gave his brother a look that could kill.

"Ok. What did I do?" Stefan asked still confused.

"You said Sara was damaged! That's what you did." Alex shouted.

"She heard you." Nick said as he glared at his uncle.

"Heard what?" Jeremy asked as he came into the kitchen. "The kids are all set. They're just waiting on Sara."

"Boys." Damon said.

"Looks like we've got kid duty, little brother." Nick said as he dragged Alex out of the kitchen. Both boys still giving Stefan the stink eye.

"What's with them?" Jeremy asked.

"Sara over heard us talking. Heard me say she was a damaged little girl and..."

"Say the words damaged and Sara again and I swear I'm going to hurt you." Damon threatened.

"How is it she hears everything? She knows everything." Jeremy said. "I mean I get Chief is her spy and they have their own little language and everything, but how did she...?"

"Either way she did hear and she's hurt." Damon snapped. They never should've started talking about Sara's dark days and because of their big mouths his little girl was hurt. Elena was going to kill him when she found out. And speaking of which, Elena's ring tone began to play on Damon's phone. He quickly fished it out of his back pocket. "Hey Baby, how's Richmond?" Elena's response made him hold the phone away from his ear.

Stefan's phone also started to ring and when he pulled it from his pocket Caroline's face flashed on the screen. He pressed the green accept button and flinched.

* * *

In their hotel in Richmond, the girls sat out on the balcony of their suite. They had just come back from a late dinner and decided to enjoy a few bottles of wine outside since it was such a nice evening. No husbands, no kids, just some much needed girl time.

"That was such a lovely dinner." Caroline said as she poured everyone a glass of wine.

"Yes, but I'm finding this wine much better." Bonnie said as she took a sip. "Unlike you two, I don't have a heightened alcohol tolerance. Momma gotta know when to stop to take care of her kids."

"Ah, two kids. Those were the days." Elena laughed.

"Says the mother of three. Try seven then come talk to me." Caroline scoffed. Soon there was laughter filling the hotel room.

"I wonder how the guys are fairing with the kids?" Elena thought out loud.

"I'm sure the kids are running amuck and Sara's handling it while the guys talk about God knows what and drink." Caroline said as she sipped her wine. "You know they're probably scheming on how to get Sara to not go to that party tomorrow tonight." She laughed

"Oh no they're not. I threatened Damon with no sex if she didn't go." Elena snorted.

"No offense Elena, but I think Damon would risk it to not see Sara go to that party." Bonnie said.

"She is his little girl." Caroline confirmed. "I don't know how Stefan's going to be once Callie starts dating and going to parties."

"I love how strong of a relationship those two have, but I just fear were sheltering her. She'll always be his little princess, but she's got to be able to spread her wings. She's gonna be going of to college soon."

"Did she decide on Whitmore or was she considering somewhere else." Caroline asked.

"Whitmore. She wants to live on campus, but doesn't want to be too far away from home. Nick hasn't decided between Whitmore and Virginia State in Petersburg. Damon and I think he's gonna choose Whitmore in ." Elena told them.

"Well good for them. Can you believe your going to be the mother of two kids in college?" Caroline giggled.

"I'm very proud of my babies. And Caroline, you have seven kids to put through college and your oldest is going to be 16 soon." Elena smirked. As Bonnie reached for the wine bottle Caroline snatched it and took a drink straight from the bottle.

Just as Bonnie was going to say something Elena's phone beeped signalling she's recieved a text message.

"Which child is complaining about what?" Bonnie asked as Elena picked up her phone.

"It's Nick." Elena said as she opened the message. A scowl formed on her lips.

"What did Alex do now?" Caroline asked.

Elena shook her head. "Not Alex, your husband. Apparently Stefan called Sara damaged." She said, her voice was hard.

"What?!" Caroline and Bonnie shouted.

"That doesn't sound like Stefan." Bonnie said. "Maybe they heard wrong."

"I don't know, but I'm sure as fuck going to find out." Elena snapped as she dialed Damon's number. When he answered she flipped out. "Why the fuck would Stefan say that Sara is damaged?!" Elena shouted as Caroline located her phone and called Stefan. Elena could hear Stefan's set tone for Care playing in the background. When he answered Caroline started yelling as well.

"Why in gods name Stefan would you say that Sara is damaged?! She's the most amazing niece and cousin to our children that we could ask for!" She shouted before she spared a glance at Bonnie. "No offense to Emily, Bon."

Bonnie shook her head. "None taken Care. We all love Sara."

* * *

Damon, Stefan and Jeremy still stood in the kitchen while the kids were occupied with a movie.

"Does Bonnie plan on calling me or am I safe?" Jeremy whispered, wondering if he too would face the wrath of his wife.

"Go watch the kids." Damon hissed before Elena started questioning him again. "Baby we were just talking about how Sara has a way with kids and people in general which lead to how Alex introduced us to her when they were in kindergarten. Well that opened the old can of worms of how we found out what happened to her and then yeah, Stefan used the word damaged to describe our little girl." Damon informed his wife, glaring at his brother by the end of it.

"I'm sorry, that's not how I meant it. She's a great kid, but you got to admit your had your issues with her when she first came to live with you." Stefan stated.

* * *

In the hotel room all three women could hear what he had said as Caroline had her phone on speaker.

"Stefan I love you, but shut the fuck up! I do not want our children traumatized over how they watched their uncle murdered their father!" Caroline hissed into her phone. The look on Elena's face could kill as well. "Why the hell would you say that? Sara is anything but damaged! Like you said she's a great kid! Now go fucking apologize before I give Damon permission to break your neck!" Caroline snapped before she hung up her phone. She was fuming and downed what was left of their current bottle of wine.

* * *

Stefan threw his hands up in the air before he left the kitchen and made his way towards the stairs. He could feel not only Damon's eyes burning holes into the back of his head, but Nick and Alex's as well. He'd never thought of Sara as damaged, she's an incredibly strong and independent young lady even after what those people had put her through. She was his niece, family. He hadn't meant anything by the comment. Stefan soon found himself knocking on Sara's bedroom door. The door opened to reveal a tear stained face Sara and knowing how much she hatted to cry, Stefan really felt like an ass now.

"What?" Sara asked in a defensive tone. Stefan could hear Chief giving a warning growl on the the other side of the door.

"Sara I'm really sorry. I never meant to imply that you were damaged. Honey, your anything but." Stefan said, trying to sooth her.

"No, you just meant that I was the scared, weak and abused little girl back then and that you don't understand how I can do what I do now. Did you ever stop to think that maybe I'm the way I am or have a way with kids that I do because I don't take shit from anyone and they know it. I'm the cool older cousin that they can have fun with, but won't take crap from them and they know it. I'm not a push over and your right, I'm anything but damaged. I never was." Sara dove right on on and didn't hold back.

"No you weren't. You were and are a very strong person and I for one would never let anyone harm you in anyway. And I'm sorry if I hurt you..."

"If?" Sara said with a raised eyebrow

"Did. Did hurt you. That was not what I meant. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted." Sara said as she hugged him. She knew he didn't see her like that. They were talking about times they didn't talk about infront of her and she had over heard them. "How bad did Auntie Care and my mom yell at you?" She asked.

"You ratted me out?"

"No, Nick did. He texted me saying he told mom who probably told Auntie Care. That bad huh?"

"She was about to let your dad break my neck."

"Ouch. Well I wouldn't have let him do that."

"Really?"

"Of course not. The kids could have walked in and see it. I'd make sure he'd taken you upstairs or into the basement first." Sara smirked.

"That's my girl." Damon said as he joined the two of them in the hall. "You okay, Princess?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm okay daddy. Thanks, but you can't kill him ...this time." Sara said as she leaned against Damon who wrapped his arm around her.

"As long as your okay, baby girl that's all that matters." Damon said as he planted a kiss to the top of her head.

"Alright, well why don't we go finish watching the movie with the younger kids?" Stefan suggested.

"Sure. Cmon chief." Sara said with a shrug as she and Chief walked down the hall. As soon as he was sure she was out of hearing range Damon turned to Stefan.

"You ever make her cry again, Stefan I swear..."

"Damon, I will willing come to you and say rip my heart out if I do. The last thing I meant was for Sara to get hurt over it. I didn't mean anything by it." Stefan said before they made their way down stairs.

The kids were still up watching the second half of Finding Dory, an old favorite of Nick, Sara and Alex's. When the movie was over everyone but Darren, Callie, Nick, Alex and Sara were asleep either on the floor or on one of the couches. Nick, Alex and Sara went up to their rooms for the night and Darren and Callie went to the set of rooms they had claimed as theirs when ever they slept over. Jeremy checked on his two before retired to what was his and Bonnie's room and Stefan checked on his four children that were asleep in the living room before going up to his old bedroom that was now his and Caroline's reserved room. Damon went around making sure the house was properly locked and made sure the boys had put the fire out correctly before going up to his and Elena's room for the night. He sent Elena a good night text and got a few hours of sleep before he would have to get up and start breakfast for the 14 other people in his house. He didn't get much sleep because all he could think about was how Sara going to a party in less than 20 hours and he really didn't want her to go.

* * *

 **AN: Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 5. In honor of the new trailer release and with only a few weeks away till the theater premiere, I made the movie Finding Dory. Super excited for this movie. I will be in theaters to see it with all the original Finding Nemo kids who saw that in theaters back in 2003. Been waiting 13 years for this movie. :)**


	6. Party Trouble

**AN: Alright, here's chapter 6. This one here is why I have the warnings and the M rating for this story. Hope you all enjoy and please review. No negative comments please.**

 **Warning: Underage drinking, drugs use, foul language, fighting, attempted rape and character death**

* * *

Chapter 6 – Party Trouble

At around 7:30 pm Saturday night Sara pulled up in front of the Lewis residence and parked on the side of the road to ensure that she would be able to get out whenever she and Lizzy decided to leave. Well if they decided to leave before 1am as it was their extended curfew for the night. Sara threw the car in park and cut the engine before she and Lizzy walked up the drive and entered the Lewis' mansion.

"Welcome ladies, welcome." Joey greeted them at the door. "Hope you ladies have a fabulous time. Food's in the dining room and the booze is in the kitchen." He directed before he greeted others that had arrived after them.

"Ok Lizzy remember, no booze and …"

"Sara, I am not leaving your side. We are attached at the hip. As much fun as I want to have, I do not want to get drunk and risk being taken advantage by some horny American football player." Lizzy stated causing Sara to laugh.

"Well then girl stick with me and you won't have to worry about any of that." She laughed as the two friends made their way to the punch bowl and got themselves some drinks and food.

"Hey Sara, Lizzy!" Link called as he joined them at the food table.

"Hey Link!" the girls smiled.

"You guys should see this place. Oh and there's a pool out back, you ladies bring your swim suites?" he asked before munching away on cheese puffs.

"Oh, I didn't know there was pool." Lizzy said.

"We didn't bring suits. Plus if there's as much booze here as I think there is, drunk teenagers and water don't mix." Sara warned.

"No sweat there baby cakes, I have no intention of drinking tonight. Coach warned us that if any one showed up to the game hungover tomorrow afternoon we'd all be running laps and drills till we passed out. No. Thank. You." Link laughed with a goofy grin on his face. Sara could tell he'd been drinking.

"Mhmm. Link?"

"Yeah Sara?"

"Call me baby cakes again and I'll kick your ass so bad you won't be able to play tomorrow's game, got it?" she threatened.

"Yes Ma'am." Link said with a mock salute before walking off to talk to some other friends.

"Something tells me that boy has already had alcohol." Sara said with a roll of her eyes.

"Okay, I gotta say it." Said Lizzy.

"Please don't." Sara groaned.

"Baby cakes? Has he ever?" Lizzy laughed.

"Nope, never. Which is why I think what I think." She said as she put some chips on her plate before the two of them moved to sit on one of the many couches in the living room.

For some time everyone was just drinking, eating and dancing. The music was loud and those that were consuming alcohol from the kitchen were easily told a part from those who weren't. Soon the place was starting to get crowded as more and more people kept showing up. It was quickly determined that there were no parents present at this party so more and more people kept showing up, brining more alcohol with them. At around 9:30 Sara started to feel a little dizzy and realized that at some point someone had decided to spike the punch or it had been spiked to begin with and she was now feeling the effects of the alcohol. She quickly grabbed Lizzy who was dancing next her and pulled her aside. After establishing that Lizzy was in the same boat they quickly agreed to only drink bottled water or soda for the rest of the night. If the punch was spiked who knows what else was as well so they decided to play it safe. From then on they partied without a care as most of the seniors and juniors were present at the party including several sophomores and even a few freshman. Almost the entire football team was there along with the majority of the guy's soccer team and half of Sara and Lizzy's team were present as well. At some point in the night Sara was approached by Jerry Martin, the captain of the football team and the school playboy. She couldn't stand him.

"Hey Salvatore. Awesome party don't you think?" he asked her as she and Lizzy moved to sit down for a break.

"Yeah, I think it's safe to say it's a hit." She acknowledged.

"Yeah it's pretty awesome. Oh, here I brought you a drink." he said as he handed her a red solo cup filled with what Sara didn't know.

Sara shook her head as she held up her latest bottle of water that she didn't let out of her sight. "No thanks, I'm all set."

"Oh c'mon Salvatore lighten up. This is way better than stupid water." He said practically forcing the cup into her hand.

"I said no." Sara said with a glare.

"Ok then, well how about a dance?" he asked.

Seeing that he wasn't going to leave on his own Sara rolled her eyes. "I don't think so Jerry." She said rather harshly as Lizzy giggle into her bottle of water.

"Whatever." He huffed before walking off muttering ' _bitch_ ' as he went. Sara and Lizzy only laughed

"Well that was…"

"Don't start, Lizzy." Sara said with a roll of her eyes.

* * *

Back at Stefan's home the kids were playing in the back yard while Damon, Stefan, Jeremy and Rick sat on the back porch watching them. So far things had been going alright without Sara. The kids had behaved most of the day and when Sara left to get ready with Lizzy that was the last anyone saw of her. Naturally Damon had to approve of the outfit Sara was wearing and considering it was still the same outfit Sara and Elena had picked out in the picture Lizzy's mom had sent him before the girls left Lizzy's house, he couldn't complain. Sara had texted Damon when they were leaving Lizzy's and promised to text him again when they were leaving. Lizzy was going to spend the night at their house tonight after the party so Sara wouldn't have to drive all over town late at night.

"How you fairing Damon?" Rick asked.

"Pretty good buddy." Damon responded.

"That's what your second _bottle_ of scotch?" Rick pointed out.

"That's why he's doing so good." Jeremy snorted.

"I'm sure everything's fine, Damon. She'd call if it wasn't." Stefan pointed out as he sat back down from dealing with an issue between Ben and Billy.

"I still don't like it. I remember all the parties I've been to over the years and more importantly, I remember the parties we all went to when it you guys Jeremy." Damon said as he down his current glass of bourbon and refilled it.

"Oh yeah, those were fun." Jeremy smiled before it turned into a frown. "Why did we let her go?" He groaned. Just then Emily walked up the stairs with Jasmine, Ricky and Billy behind her.

"Daddy, can we go inside and watch a movie?" She asked.

"Sure you can, Baby." Jeremy smiled. "Hey, promise me when you get older no parties?"

Emily smiled. "Okay Daddy." She said before they went inside.

"Callie should be in there somewhere. Ask her for help if you need it!" Stefan called after them.

"We will!" all four of them called back as they raced through the kitchen.

"God luck with that Jeremy." Rick said as he clapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm in trouble." Jeremy responded as he sat back in his chair and took a swig of his beer.

"At least you have a couple of years with Emily. It's Joey you're going to have to watch now." Rick said as he watched Joey tackle Ben to the ground. They weren't playing football or any sort of sport.

"Uncle Jeremy! Joey tackled Ben!" Shouted Alexa, she was in the same class as Joey and was the third oldest to Stefan and Caroline.

"I got it." Jeremy said as he stood and made his way down the stairs to deal with the issue. Ben wasn't crying so Stefan was overly concerned. Ben was a pretty tough kid and liked to play from time to time, but Joey was nearly twice his size.

* * *

Back at the party Sara and Lizzy mingled with some friends and continued on dancing until at one point Sara noticed that Lizzy was no longer next to her, in fact she couldn't even see her. Deciding to go look for her as they had been implementing the whole buddy system since they got there. Sara made her way through the throng of people noticing that many were drunk, possibly high as she smelled pot, and she was sure as she passed one of the many empty rooms she saw a few people even shooting up. It was then as she looked around that she noticed how out of hand this party was getting. Sara pulled out her phone and realized it was just after midnight. As she made her way back towards the dining hall figuring Lizzy went for more water or something to eat she saw several couples sneaking off into secluded areas and a few guys were nearly carrying their girlfriends or current hookups up the stairs. Sara decided that when she found Lizzy that they were leaving. As she entered the dining room she finally saw Lizzy standing at the table talking with Jerry. She watched as Jerry turned and grabbed a few cups of punch and handed one to Lizzy, but not before slipping something into one of the cups. Sara quickly made her way over, but wasn't fast enough to stop Lizzy from taking a sip of the roofied drink and it wasn't like she could shout out to her as the music was still going strong. When Sara reached the two of them she grabbed Lizzy's drink from her.

"What the hell Salvatore!" shouted Jerry.

"Stuff it Martin!" she shouted, glaring at the football star before turning her gaze to her friend. "We're leaving, now!" she said shouted and Lizzy nodded.

"Now hold up! Who says she wants to leave?" Jerry said as she grabbed Sara by the arm.

"Paws off Jerry!" she shouted as she shrugged out of his hold. "And I'm sure she'll want to leave once whatever you slipped her kicks in!" she accused.

Lizzy's eyes went wide. "You did what?!" she shouted at Jerry.

"I did no such thing!" Jerry yelled.

"Bullshit!" Sara yelled before flinging the still full cup of liquid at him. Sara flung the empty cup away from her before grabbing Lizzy by the hand and practically dragged her towards the front door. Unfortunately, Jerry had caught up with them.

"You know what Sara, you're a fucking bitch! Just because you want to leave doesn't mean Lizzy has to!" he shouted.

"You know what Jerry, you've never paid any attention to Lizzy till tonight when you gave her that drink. I do believe just earlier you offered me one as well, one I'm sure that would have whatever you just spiked Lizzy's drink with in it, so excuse me if I think you're full of shit! Now get the fuck out of my way before I kick your ass in front of all these people and you and I both know I can take you down." Sara warned through gritted teeth. Her eyes flashed dangerously. Jerry was going to yelled back at Sara, but Link and Bobby soon showed up behind the girls.

"Dude, leave them alone." Bobby said with his arms crossed and glared at his team mate. Jerry just huffed before stopping away. Sara turned to look at them. "Hey I know you didn't need our help, but thought you should probably get out of here sooner than later. Lizzy doesn't look too good." He said and Link nodded in agreement. Sara took a good look at her friend. He was right.

"Thanks guys. Keep an eye on him will you? He put something in her drink. I don't want that happening to anyone else." She said concerned for those around here.

"You got it!" Link said with another salute before they walked off.

"C'mon Lizzy. Let's get you home." Sara said as she wrapped an arm around her friend and together they walked down the drive way and to Sara's car.

Once they got to the car, Sara pressed the unlock button on her remote and opened the back door. "In you go." She said as she helped Lizzy into the back seat. She was swaying on her feet and Sara was certain she couldn't have had that much to drink, but then again she didn't know how long Lizzy had been gone. She decided it must have had something to do with whatever Jerry had given her. Once Lizzy was situated in the back seat Sara moved to the front of the car and slid in behind the wheel. As she turned the key her car stuttered before quieting down. "What the fuck?" Sara hissed before turning the key again and this time the car didn't make a sound. "Fuck!" she said as she slammed her fist against the steering wheel.

"Oh god!" Lizzy moaned before she hurled in the back seat.

"Oh Lizzy." Sara groaned before getting out of the car. As she moved to open the back driver side door she noticed the reason why her car wouldn't start. Her gas door was open and the cap was sitting on the trunk. On the pavement below was a puddle and the smell of gas was strong. Someone had siphoned the gas out of her car. Not that it would've made much difference if they hadn't because she still would've been stranded if she had gotten her car to start. Someone had also slashed her tires, in fact they had slashed all four of her tires. As Sara looked around she could see several other cars in the same condition as hers, some she recognized as those belonging to some of her team mates and other girls from school. "Just great." She sighed before pulling out her phone as she opened the back door to check in on Lizzy. As she pulled up her dad's contact info Lizzy began convulsing in the back seat. "Shit, Lizzy!" she shouted as she got in to try and hold her on her side so she didn't hurt herself. Knowing that this wasn't good instead of calling her father she dialed 911.

"911 operator, do you have an emergency?" said a female from the station. Sara had placed the phone on speaker volume.

"Hi yes I do. I need an ambulance to 58 Birch Road right away, my friend just had a seizure in the back seat of my car." Sara said trying to stay calm.

"Can you bring her to a hospital?" asked the operator.

"No, someone slashed my tires. We're at a party." She informed.

"Alright, I'm notifying the EMT's and there's a police unit nearby that I'm going to send to you as well. Can you stay on the line with me till they get there?"

"Yes."

"Is your friend still seizing?"

"No, it stop." Sara said as she leaned over to check her pulse. "I can feel a pulse and she's breathing."

"That's good. Does your friend suffer from a seizure disorder?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Someone spiked her drink and she threw up in the backseat before it started."

"Okay, the team is on the way. They're about 3 minutes away from your location."

"I can hear the sirens."

"Okay, please stay on the line with me."

"Okay." Sara said before she heard someone called her.

"Salvatore!"

Sara looked up to see Jerry through the window, walking across the lawn towards them. "Jerry go the fuck away!" She yelled as she rounded the car.

"No way bitch! I've got a bone to pick with you!" he spat before he too could hear the sirens, in fact he could see the flashing lights of a cop car and the sirens of the ambulance could be heard. It was then that he saw Sara was on the phone. "You called the fucking cops!" he yelled.

"Damn right I called the cops!" she yelled back. "Lizzy just had a god damn seizure in the back seat of my car because of whatever you gave her you fucking bastard!"

"You called the cops!" Jerry said again and Sara had to wonder how sober he actually was and if he was on anything. As the squad car pulled into the drive way Sara waved to them.

"Over here!" she called. One of the cops made their way over while the other waited to direct the ambulance in their direction towards the car. When Sara turned her attention back to Lizzy forgetting about Jerry, he grabbed her by the arm and swung her around before slapping her on the face.

"You fucking bitch!" he shouted. At that moment Sara dropped her phone before she twisted Jerry's arm and brought a knee to his groin.

"Don't fucking touch me!" she shouted shoving him to the ground as one of the cops came over and restrained Jerry while the paramedics came over to the car. At this point a small crowd had gathered outside and several were whispering and holding their phones up recording the incident. Sara didn't even pay them any attention as she checked on Lizzy who was being loaded onto a stretcher. One of the EMT's approached her and asked if she was alright.

"I'm fine, how is Lizzy?" she asked as they loaded her into the back of the ambulance.

"She's stable for now, but we need to get her to the hospital. Do you know what she took?" the EMT asked.

"She didn't take anything! That asshole…" she said pointed to Jerry, "Put something in her drink. Can I ride with her?" she asked. The EMT looked to the officer who nodded their head. They knew who Sara was and could get a statement later when she was calmer. Right now she was too focused on the safety of her friend. "Of course. Do you know how to reach her parents?" he asked as they got into the back.

As the ambulance drove off and one of the cops secured the party scene outside, the other went inside and called for backup. There were alcohol bottles everywhere, teens everywhere and several were drunk off their ass. No doubt they'd need to go to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped the officer thought. As the officer walked around he ended up walking in on several couples where the girl was practically comatose while the guys were undressing themselves. It was clear that whatever the girl had been slipped that was taken away in in the ambulance was not the only one to have been drugged this evening. As back up arrived several boys were placed under arrest as a call for more cruisers and ambulances were placed.

* * *

At the hospital Sara sat in the waiting room. They had taken Lizzy in right away and she was left to call not only Lizzy's parents, but her father as well. It was near one in the morning and she was a wreck. A cop had shown up to talk to her about what had happened and she soon realized that more had happened at the party than she realized and it was a good thing she had called the police. It seemed several girls were in different stages of undress and about to be raped, but thankfully the sexual part of the crime was not committed on any of the girls as far as the police could tell. Some of the girls were also on the soccer team with Sara and Lizzy and one of them had even been a freshman. Also all the boys that were involved were either on the football team with Jerry or on the soccer team that were buddies with either Jerry or someone else on the team. When the cop had arrested Jerry for the physical assault they had witnessed on Sara they had found a baggie full of little white pills. Pills that he had distributed to most of the guys on the team and to the soccer team to increase their chances at getting laid. Sara felt sick to her stomach as the thought reared in her head that it could have easily been her. Unfortunately, it had been Lizzy instead.

"Sara!" someone shouted. Sara looked up to see Lizzy's parents rushing over to her.

"Clare! Simon!" she called.

"Oh Sara, what happened?" Clare, Lizzy's mother asked.

"I'm so sorry!" Sara cried. "We got separated at one point and Jerry put something in a drink he gave her and she got sick. I couldn't leave because someone slashed my tiers and then she started seizing so I called 911. The doctors haven't told me anything other than she was stable on the way here."

"Okay, Sara. I'm gonna go see if we can't find out what's going on." Lizzy's dad Simon said before going over to the nurse's station.

"I'm so sorry." Sara said again. Clare was sure it was the shock of everything finally settling in.

"Oh Sara, it's not your fault Sweetheart. You got her out of there and called for help. For that we are grateful. Did you call your parents?" Clare asked.

"My mom's out of town, but I called my dad. He's on his way." She told her.

Just then Simon walked over with a doctor. "Dear, this is Dr. Jennings. He's here to talk to us about Elizabeth."

Clare turned and looked at the doctor. "How is she doctor?"

"Your daughter is doing well. We're still not sure as to what caused her to have a seizure so we'd like to keep her overnight for observation and to run some more tests if needed depending on what the results are of those we've already ordered. Other than that we're certain she'll make a full recovery."

"Oh thank goodness." Clare said as she leaned into her husband.

"Can we see her?" Simon asked.

"Of course, follow me." The doctor said before leading the way to Lizzy's room.

"Sara, would you like to come too?" Simon asked.

"Can I?"

"Of course Love." Clare said as she wrapped an arm around Sara's shoulders and together the three of them went to see Lizzy. Unfortunately, before they even got outside Lizzy's door an alarm sounded.

 _"Code Blue. Room 218. Code Blue."_

"What's going on?" Clare asked before Dr. Jennings rushed ahead of them and into Room 218. As the three approached room 218 they saw that it was Lizzy the doctors were rushing to help.

"Lizzy!" Sara shouted.

"My baby!" cried Clare as a nurse directed them away from the room.

"I'm sorry, you can't go in there." the nurse said as she directed them to another waiting room.

After some time had passed, too much time in Sara's opinion, the three of them moved to the hallway in search of someone that could tell them what was going on. As they walked towards the nurse's station they found Dr. Jennings.

"Dr. Jennings, what the hell is going on with our daughter?" Simon demanded. Dr. Jennings sighed as he directed them to move back into the waiting room as Sara's phone began to buzz. She stayed out in the hall as she pulled it from her pocket. She had a text message.

 **Where are you? – Dad**

 **Second floor nurse's station. – Sara**

 **On my way - Dad**

She waited in the hall way while Dr. Jennings walked back into the waiting room with Lizzy's parents. She was surprised that her father had even sent the second text and she was even more surprised that she had received it before he had appeared in front of her.

"Daddy!" Sara said as Damon appeared and wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he nearly crushed her to him before holding her at arm's length to look her over. "What happened?" Sara hadn't told him much over the phone other than something had happened and Lizzy had been taken to the hospital.

"I'm fine, Daddy. It's Lizzy I'm worried about. Before we could see her I think she stopped breathing. The doctor is with her parents now in the waiting room." She said as she bit her lip.

"Well lets go." Damon said. When they entered the waiting room Clare was sitting in a chair crying. Simon held her hand as he talked to the doctor. Seeing Sara come in with Damon, Simon stopped talking. When her husband abruptly stopped talking with Dr. Jennings Clare looked up to see Sara.

"Sara." She whispered causing Dr. Jennings to turn around. His face was ashen.

"No." Sara whispered. Damon's grip on her shoulder tightened.

"Sara." Simon repeated with unshed tears in his eyes.

"You have to say it. I…I won't believe you if you don't say it." She said as tears started to well up in her eyes.

Dr. Jennings looked to Simon who nodded to him. Jennings walked over and stood in front of Sara. "Sara, I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, but I'm afraid your friend Lizzy has passed away. I'm very sorry for your loss." He was barely able to get the standard phrase out before Sara's knees gave out from under her and she collapsed on the floor.

"No!" she cried. Damon knelt down with her and held her in his arms as she broke down sobbing. Dr. Jennings left the room to give everyone a moment to take in the loss of Lizzy. "How?" Sara said when she had calmed down enough. "They said she was going to be alright?"

"They think it was an allergic reaction to whatever she had been slipped. None of the other girls that were drugged have had seizures so they think it was either a reaction to something or she was overdosed. They don't have the results back yet." A voice said from the door way. Everyone looked to see one of the officers from the scene standing there. "I'm very sorry for your loss, but Mr. Belmont may I have a word with you? It will only take a moment. You as well Mr. Salvatore." The officer said.

Damon helped Sara into a chair near Clare who wrapped her arms around her daughter's distraught best friend. "I've got her." She said as she wiped away tears from her cheeks as her husband moved to join the officer in the hall.

"I'll be right back." Damon said softly as he placed a kiss to Sara's forehead before following after Simon and the officer.

* * *

Out in the hall the officer was filling Damon and Simon in on what had happened according to Sara's and everyone else's statements. Everything seemed to coincide with one another, he had also shown the two men the video of Sara beating the crap out of jerry. Someone had put it on YouTube already. In fact there were several videos from different angles. Some had the part when Jerry had slapped Sara and others didn't.

"That little son of a bitch!" Damon swore.

"According to some of the kids, Mr. Martin had tried to give Sara a drink hours before he did Lizzy. We think he went after her out of spite." The officer informed.

Though Simon was dealing with the loss of his only child, Sara had come to mean a lot to him and his family in the short amount of time they had known her. Simon had been afraid the move would've been difficult for Lizzy and in the beginning it was till she met Sara and Rachel and their gang. Knowing about the other girls and what else his daughter could have been put through before she faced her death, Simon would always be grateful for the help Sara had tried to get her.

"Damon." Simon said as he looked at the vampire. "Sara is likely to blame herself for what happened. Please, don't let her do anything stupid. Clare and I, we don't blame her for what happened in any way."

"Of course not. I'm very sorry about Lizzy. I just wish I had gotten here sooner." He said, knowing if he had, he may have been able to save Lizzy.

"Given how quickly everything happened, I doubt that. But thank you Damon. I…I really appreciate that." Simon said before looking to the officer. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, sir." The officer said and Simon turned and went back into the waiting room.

"I want to press charges against that boy." Damon growled.

The officer nodded. "Thought at much. There's going to be enough on him. All the boys that had some of the pills all confessed that Martin was the one who gave it to them. Now with the death of the Belmont girl, he's looking at murder. Why don't you come down to the station on Monday with Sara and we can get a report started for her?" he offered.

Damon nodded. "We'll see you then." He said before he turned to go back into the waiting room and the officer walked away. When he entered the waiting room and found Sara asleep on Clare's shoulder.

"How is she?" Damon asked.

"She cried and apologized a dozen times. I think she finally passed out from the shock of everything. You'll call us tomorrow to tell us how she's doing, won't you?" Clare asked as she brushed a few strands of hair out of Sara's face.

"Of course. Perhaps the two of you should come over tomorrow? You can see how she's doing and uh, pick up Lizzy's things. I think they're still in Sara's car."

"She tell you about the car? I guess a bunch of the girl's cars were in the same condition." Clare said, remembering what Sara had said.

"Yeah. A buddy of mine has a tow truck, he's gonna take it to his shop and check it out, replace the tiers and everything before I go pick it up. Cops are going to take the tires into evidence. Dust for prints on the gas cap." Damon informed them. He was incredibly pissed over everything that had happened but if he let it show, he'd for sure vamp out. He had to get Sara home first.

"Alright, well we'll stop by in the morning?" Simon said.

"Come any time." Damon nodded as he lifted Sara's sleeping form into his arms.

"I really hope she stops blaming herself. We don't." Clare said before she and Simon walked out. They met up with Dr. Jennings's at the nurse's station to go and see Lizzy's body before they went home.

Damon walked through the hospital and carried Sara to the car. He had refused to stop to talk to anyone else and to stop himself from going into Jerry Martin's room and beat the shit out of the little fucker. When his parents had noticed him he had sped away to avoid any sort of conflict he was sure that would've happened. His only concern right now was getting his daughter home. Once they reached the car Damon set her in the front seat and buckled her in before getting behind the wheel and driving home. When they reached the house, Damon pulled up to nick's truck and cut the engine. He got out and quickly moved to the other side. Sara had yet to wake and he sure as hell wasn't about to wake her now. Damon lifted her into his arms once more and walked towards the house. Nick greeted them at the door. Damon had told Rick to take the boys home when Sara had called when they were still at Stefan's.

"How is she? Is she okay?" Nick whispered, unsure of what had gone on.

"Your sister is fine, Son. Just go to bed. We'll talk in the morning." Damon replied before taking Sara up to her room. When Damon checked on Nick and Alex, both boys were in bed and asleep. Suffering from exhaustion after spending two days with their cousins. As he pulled out his bottle of bourbon and grabbed a bag of blood, he pulled out his phone and called Elena.

"Elena." He said when she picked up. "You need to come home. We never should have let her go to that party. Baby, Lizzy died tonight." Damon said softly before taking a long swig from his bottle of bourbon. It was going to be a long night.


	7. These Things Take Time

**AN: Alright, here's chapter 7. Just wanted to say this story had reached over 600 views. Exciting. I certainly hope you're all enjoying it. Please remember to review, they always motivate me to write more often and thus updating sooner.**

 **Responses to reviews:**

 **Polkadottedgiraffe11: Thank you. I hope you got a chance to read the other chapters as well. Also I did PM you about being a Beta for this story. :)**

 **Alright, I'm done. I've said my two cents, now please enjoy chapter 7.**

 **-LS**

* * *

Chapter 7 – These Things Take Time

It was four-thirty in the morning and Damon, Elena, Caroline and Bonnie all sat around the kitchen table. After Damon had called Elena around two in the morning, she had woken the girls and they quickly packed up their things and checked out of the hotel room. Screw their girl's weekend, screw the story Elena had to cover for work. All hell had broken loose back home. Elena had driven well over the speed limit and made it back to Mystic Falls in record time. She had offered to take Caroline and Bonnie home, knowing that Sara was safe at home, but they had insisted on going straight to the house. When they got to the house the girls went inside, ignoring the luggage they had in the trunk. Damon met them in the foyer and Elena had ran straight into his arms shouting of question after question. Now after checking on Sara for herself, finding her asleep with Chief watching over her, they sat in the kitchen drinking.

"So what exactly happened at this party?" Caroline asked as she pulled a fresh bag of blood from the fridge and set it in front of Elena. She had a feelings she was going to need it.

"Thanks Care. What do you know Damon?" she asked as she turned to look at her husband, bringing the tube leading into the bag to her mouth.

"I don't know the whole story, it's been a crazy night." Damon said as he told the girls what he knew about the night.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _ _Damon sat out_ on the front porch with a glass of bourbon in his hand as he and Rick caught up. Stefan was inside checking on the sleeping children and Jeremy was playing a game on the Xbox with Nick and Alex. It was one in the morning and Stefan had told Darren and Callie it was time for them to go to bed. While Rick talked about Alex's behavior in class, Damon's phone started ringing. He answered it when he saw it was Sara. Knowing it was now the girl's curfew he figured she and Lizzy were on their home._

 _"Hey, princess. You and Lizzy on your way to the house?" he answered, the smile on his face quickly being replaced by a frown._

 _"What is it? Damon?" Rick asked._

 _"I'll be right there." Damon said as he stood up, hanging up the phone._

 _"Did something happen?" Rick asked as he stood._

 _"Lizzy was drugged at the party. Sara had to call an ambulance. She's waiting at the hospital." Damon informed as he patted his pockets before he dug out his car keys._

 _"Why didn't she just drive Lizzy there?" Rick asked._

 _"Someone fucked with her car." Damon growled. "Can you take the boys home?"_

 _"Of course. Go." Rick nodded and as soon as the words left his lips Damon sped to the car and soon the engine roared to life and Damon pealed out of the driveway and was gone._

 _"Where is he going?" Stefan asked._

 _"Something happened at the party." Rick sighed._

 _"Is Sara okay?"_

 _"I think so. Lizzy however…"_

 _"Shit." Stefan said as he ran a hand threw his hair._

 _"Damon wanted me to take the boy's home."_

 _"C'mon." Stefan said as they went inside to inform the boys that they were leaving._

"Sara called me around 1 am. I figured she was calling to say she was on her way home with Lizzy, but apparently she was calling from the hospital waiting room. Lizzy was drugged at the party and had had a seizure in the back seat of her car. She had to call an ambulance because someone not only siphoned the gas from her car, but also slashed her tires. According to the officer I talked with at the hospital several cars were in the same condition, all belonging to girls that were at the party." Damon explained.

"Wait, someone vandalized a bunch of girls' cars? Why?" Caroline screeched.

"Several girls were given the same thing as Lizzy and most of them were about to be rapped. Apparently if any girl a boy hadn't been able to get to drink a spiked cup were going to offer the girls a ride home and probably stop somewhere thinking they could get lucky." Damon growled.

"You have to be fucking kidding me!" Caroline exclaimed. These were her students. Never did she think something like this could be done by them or even in her town.

"So Sara saved all those girls by calling the cops?" Bonnie said. She was proud of her niece, but felt horrible for her at the loss of her best friend.

"Lizzy did not die in vain tonight, but she did die all the same. Sara blames herself." Damon spoke softly.

"Why does she blame herself? She got Lizzy out of there when she could. She called for help. What happened to the parents? Weren't they supposed to be there?" Caroline spouted of question after question as she paced the kitchen.

"Who the fuck knows where they were. They weren't at that party and they certainly weren't at the hospital where a bunch of kids were getting their stomachs pumped and parents were overflowing the halls! That fucking Martin kid's parents had the nerve to try and talk to me as I carried Sara out of there." Damon growled as he banged his fist against the table

"The kid who gave everyone the drugs?" Elena asked, finally getting over the shock of what she'd heard.

"The one in the same. I sped out of there before I lost it. Sara blames herself because apparently this Jerry kid only went after Lizzy to spite Sara when she rejected a drink from him earlier in the night." Damon nodded before downing his current glass of bourbon. If he gripped the glass and harder it would shatter.

"So Sara could've been…" Elena couldn't finished the sentence. Damon only nodded as he squeezed her hand in his free one.

"She's okay, Baby. She's safe." Damon whispered into her ear as he kissed her temple. The same thought had crossed his mind more than once in the last few hours.

"Lizzy's parents don't blame Sara, do they?" Bonnie asked.

"Of course not. In spite of what happened, they're grateful to Sara for getting Lizzy out of there and getting her help. At first they said Lizzy was going to be fine, but when they went to see her something happened and the doctors weren't able to get her back."

"Poor Sara. Poor Simon and Clare. All those kids." Caroline cried. Bonnie wrapped her arm around her friend.

"How'd Nick take it?" she asked.

"He doesn't know yet. I couldn't tell him. Thought it would be better to wait till morning. Lizzy's parents are coming by to check on Sara and hopefully Louie will have Sara's car ready so they can get Lizzy's things from it." Damon sighed. It'd been a long and stressful night. Hell it'd been a long two, three days.

"Damon, why don't you try to get a few hours of sleep." Elena suggested.

"I'm alright, Baby." Damon said as he leaned over and planted a kiss to her cheek. Elena gave him a weak smile. She could see he was tired, but didn't push. Silence filled the kitchen.

* * *

Around 5:30 Damon started pulling out the ingredients for breakfast. Caroline had made a fresh pot of coffee and was filling everyone's mugs when Chief trotted his way through the kitchen and out of his doggy door. If Chief was down here that meant Sara was too. The adults had been so distracted that they hadn't heard Sara's door open or as she and chief made their way down to the kitchen. Sara rounded the corner and appeared in the door way. She'd only been asleep for a few hours and she looked terrible. Wither her bloodshot eyes were from fresh tears or the ones from the hospital Damon was unsure of. If Sara was surprised to her mother and aunts in the kitchen when they were supposed to be in Richmond till tonight she didn't show it.

"Sara, you're dad's making breakfast." Caroline informed, being the first to say something.

"Oh." She said softly, shifting her gaze from her aunt to her father. "Thanks, Daddy, but I'm not really hungry." She said as she moved towards the back door to go see Chief. Her voice though quiet held no emotion in it what so ever. It was strange and no one liked it. When she was outside everyone released a breath they hadn't realized they were holding.

"What are we going to do?" Elena said.

"We'll figure it out." Damon said as he cracked a few eggs.

"We should probably get going. Damon, do you know if Jeremy took the kids home last night?" Bonnie asked.

"They stayed the night at Stefan's."

"Okay. I'm gonna call Jeremy to come get us. Elena, no you are not to offer us a ride." Bonnie said when she saw Elena about to speak. "You need to stay here." She said as she dialed Jeremy's cell number. "Hey, baby. Can you come pick me and Caroline up at Damon and Elena's? I'll explain later." Bonnie said before she hung up.

"Call if you need anything." Caroline said as she hugged Elena.

"Thanks for helping with the kids Damon." Bonnie said as she hugged him. "She'll be okay. These things take time, but she'll be okay in the end."

"Thanks Bonnie and it was my pleasure." Damon said giving his trademark smirk before Caroline came to get her hug and Bonnie could hug Elena.

"Yes, Damon. Thank you for helping Stefan with our brood of children. If you need to ship the boys off…"

"I'll dump them at your door. Thanks Blonde." Damon smirked as he hugged Caroline. She smiled, appreciative of the use of the old nickname he had for her.

"Don't forget your stuff in the car." Elena reminded them.

"We won't. Call us later." Bonnie said as she and Caroline left to meet Jeremy who was coming up the driveway.

* * *

Elena stood at the back door, watching Sara as she walked around the backyard with Chief. It was now 7:30 and she had yet to come back inside. Damon had finished preparing breakfast and the two vampires had eaten and were on who knows what number cup of coffee, bourbon, glass of wine, or bag of blood they were on. They felt numb, they couldn't imagine how Sara must've been feeling right now. Nick and Alex had yet to wake up, but there was plenty of food waiting for them for when they would eventually come down. Elena was sure there would be enough left over if and when the Belmont's arrived. Really what was there for them to do? The damage had been done, a girl was dead, a boy or more were going to jail, and a bunch of kids were going to need a lot of therapy because of this party.

"I feel so helpless." Elena sighed.

"I know what you mean. I just…I don't know what to say to her." Damon said as he came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as they watched Sara roam the yard.

"What are we going to tell Nick? Lizzy was his friend too."

"I don't know, but we should tell him before the Belmont's show up."

"When are they coming?"

"We never specified a time. More of a 'if you want to, come over' type thing."

"I see." Elena said as the house phone rang.

"I'll get it." Damon said. Elena looked back at him and tilted her head up. Damon kissed her chastely on the lips before grabbing the kitchen phone off the counter. "Hello?" he answered as movement could be heard from upstairs. The boys were up.

In a few minutes Alex came into the kitchen, dragging his feet on the floor, his hair a mess as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his fist. "Morning." He yawned before his eyes landed on his mother. "Mom? What are you doing here? I thought you weren't going to be here till tonight."

Elena gave him a weak smile as she moved from the door and grabbed some of the food that Damon had placed in the oven to keep warm. "Change in plans, sweetie. Where's your brother?"

"He went outside to talk to Sara. Guess something happened at the party last night." Alex said nonchalantly as he stacked French toast onto his plate. The look on his parent's faces didn't sit well with him. "Did something happen at the party?" he asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer. When Alaric had brought them home last night, Alex had gone straight to bed.

"Yes, Alex. Something happened last night." Elena said as she moved to sit at the table. "Someone was handing out pills to a lot of the guys at the party to give to girls so they could…have sex with them and Lizzy happened to be one of those girls."

"Wait Lizzy was rapped? Is that why Dad had to go get Sara? Did someone try to do that to Sara?" Alex asked.

"We don't know everything that happened, the only one who truly knows what happened is Sara. However, from what we've been told Sara was offered a drink that was drugged but turned the guy down. Unfortunately, the guy she turned down went after Lizzy to get back at your sister."

"Is Lizzy okay?"

"No Alex, she's not." Damon said before Nick came rushing into the kitchen.

"It's not true! Tell me it's not true!" Nick yelled, unshed tears in his eyes.

"Nick…" Damon started, but was cut off.

"No! Lizzy can't be dead!" Nick cried.

"Lizzy died?!" Alex stood up so fast he knocked his chair over and it let out a loud bang.

This wasn't how they had wanted to tell the boys about Lizzy, but then again they weren't sure how they were going to tell them in the first place. Perhaps this was best. Sara told Nick, Nick told Alex. Now they could confirm and comfort them.

Alex looked from his brother to his parents, his gaze falling on his mother. "That's why your home early…because Lizzy died…at that party…last night." Alex went to sit in his chair forgetting he knocked it over and ended up on his ass and he stayed there. Elena rushed to his side while Damon looked to Nick.

"I'm so sorry boys, but yes. Lizzy is gone." He confirmed.

Nick looked like he was going to be sick. He quickly rushed to the sink and deposited whatever was in his stomach. Their friend was dead…well his friend was dead. His and Sara's friend was dead. Sara's best friend was dead. Lizzy was dead. It didn't seem possible to Nick. When he had gone out to see Sara, asking her what happened last night and where Lizzy was because it finally dawned on him that she hadn't been with his father and she was supposed to be staying the night, Sara broke down, started crying and said Lizzy was dead before she ran off into the trees with Chief following after her. Nick would've gone after her, but what she had told him left him in shock so he ran to the house to ask his father. However seeing Elena home early and the looks on their faces told him that what Sara had said was true.

"How…how did it happen?" Nick asked as he wiped his mouth clear of vomit.

"She was drugged. Sara got her out of there, but she had a seizure shortly after. Doctors think it was either due to an allergic reaction or she was given too much and overdosed. They weren't sure yet." Damon told him.

"Is that why you had to go get Sara last night?" Alex asked.

"Someone at the party last night decided to mess with a bunch of cars that belonged to the girls who were at the party, slashing their tires and siphoning out the gas from their tanks and Sara's car was one of them." Damon explained.

"And that's when she called you?" Nick asked.

"No, she called me when she was at the hospital. By then Lizzy had had the seizure and your sister called 911 to get Lizzy help. At first they though she was going to be okay, but something happened after Lizzy's parents got there and by the time I got there, they had received the news of Lizzy's passing."

"So you couldn't have done something?" Alex asked, knowing how their parent's blood had healing abilities. Whenever they had gotten a cut or scrap as kids their parents would rub the wound and it was disappear before their eyes. It wasn't till they were older that they realized what the purpose of their mom or dad biting their thumb was before they rubbed the wound that the only way the cut healed was because of their parent's blood.

"I'm afraid not, Son. If I had gotten there sooner, maybe." Damon shrugged. He still wished he could've done something to save the girl, to save his children from this sort of pain.

"Lizzy wasn't the only girl drugged last night. Because your sister called for help all the other girls were rescued before something could happen. So even though Lizzy died, she helped save all those other girls too." Elena said as she had her arms wrapped around Alex.

"Where's your sister?" Damon asked as he opened the back door, noticing Sara was no longer in the yard.

"She ran off." Nick muttered as he sat down. Damon swore under his breath before he looked to Elena. His first instinct was to run after Sara, but maybe she needed some time.

Elena nodded her head. "Go. I've got things here." She said as she turned her attention to her boys and Damon didn't need to be told twice. He was gone.

* * *

Sara ran. She ran as far and as fast as her legs would take her, Chief running along right beside her. She didn't know if she was running away, where she was going to, or if she was running just to do something. She didn't cry, she didn't scream, she just ran. When she finally came to a stop she honestly had no idea where she was or how long she'd been running for, but Chief was panting heavily beside her. Sara quickly located a small stream and Chief rushed to the water, putting his nose in it as his tongue lapped up the water. Sara was suddenly filled with guilt. She shouldn't have ran off, she shouldn't have run so far. Chief was old, despite his clean bill of health, if anything were to happen to him because of her she would never forgive herself. She sat down on the ground and leaned against a large tree, watching Chief as he drank before he rolled in the stream getting all wet and muddy. Now someone would need a bath when they got home. The corners of her mouth couldn't help the twitch upward, but the smile never fully formed. When he was done in the stream Chief bounded his way over to her and laid down beside her. Sara rested her head back against the tree, closed her eyes and just breathed. Breathed and listened.

Silence. It was quiet. Well other than the gurgling from the stream and the labored breathing coming from Chief it was quiet. No birds. No squirrels. No nothing. And then that nagging voice in her head started talking again.

 _Lizzy was dead._

Funny thing was, that voice in her head sounded an awful lot like her birth mother. Laura. She hated that woman. She hated herself.

Lizzy was dead. She wouldn't be in school on Monday. She wouldn't be sitting with them at lunch. She wouldn't be at soccer practice after school. She wouldn't be at the game next week. She wouldn't be going to the play offs when they won that game. She wouldn't be celebrating with them. She wouldn't be picking out prom dresses in the spring with her and Rachel. She wouldn't be going to prom. She wouldn't be celebrating the end of finals. She wouldn't be at graduation in June. She wouldn't be anything, but dead. Lizzy was dead. And it was all her fault.

Sara repeated it over and over in her mind. Lizzy was dead. Her fault. Lizzy was dead. Her fault. Lizzy was _dead_. It _was_ her fault. _Lizzy_ was dead and it was _her_ fault. Sara thought she'd be crying by now, but it seemed her eyes had no more tears to shed. At least for the moment. Good. She didn't want to cry. She hated crying. Yet all she felt like doing was crying. Sara sighed before she opened her eyes. She had no idea how long she'd been sitting here, but she figured she's done it long enough so she stood up. Chief stood up beside her and looked up at her, waiting for her instructions.

"Let's go home boy." She said softly. Chief barked and turned around, leading the way. _'At someone knew the way home.'_ She thought as she followed him back the way they had come, this time walking.

* * *

When Damon returned to the house it was almost nine in the morning and he hadn't found Sara. He'd search the entire property then even went a bit further around to the neighbors. When he hadn't found her he searched places he thought she'd go to and she wasn't there either. She was fast and she'd gotten a head start. He only made the decision to return home because he knew Chief was with her and she'd come back eventually. As worried as he was, he knew Sara. She wouldn't do anything stupid. At least he hoped she wouldn't. He remembered all the stupid, impulsive things he had done in his lifetime because the emotion was too much to bare, it wasn't like Sara was a vampire who could turn off her emotions. She was human and forced to feel everything, that list now included the death of one of her best friends. With his current thoughts, Damon had decided to keep searching for her. He was going to check Wickery Bridge knowing her history with it, but he stopped when he heard barking coming from inside the house. Damon sped inside and stopped in the kitchen to see Chief at his bowls, eating. If Chief was home, then that meant Sara had to be too.

"Where is she?" Damon asked Elena as she poured herself another cup of coffee.

"Upstairs."

"How long have they been back? I've been looking everywhere!" Damon said as he collapsed into one of the chairs at the table.

"About five minutes. I was just going to call you." Elena said as she set the cup she had made for herself in front of her husband. He looked like he could use it more than she did.

"Mom, Sara's locked herself in her room!" Alex whined as he stomped into the kitchen with Nick following him at a more self-contained pace.

"We wanted to talk to her about what happened with Lizzy and she just slammed the door in my face and locked it. She won't open it." Nick informed his parents, though he was sure his mother had heard the door slam.

"Boys you're going to have to give your sister some space. She's in a great deal of pain…" Elena started before she was interrupted by Nick.

"I'm in pain too!" he shouted.

"Do not yell at your mother." Damon scolded as he sipped at the coffee.

"Lizzy wasn't just Sara's friend, she was mine too! And Rachel's, and Susan's, and Link's and Bobby's! God, do they know?" Nick asked.

"Link and Bobby were at the party I'm sure the news has reached them. However, we'll call their parents and see if they know. You are not to ask or tell them until we talk to you, do you understand Nicolaus? This is not the sort of news one wants to find out through a text message." Damon said as he pulled out his phone and dialed Matt's number.

"We understand that you boys are also dealing with the loss of a friend and we're very sorry and here if either of you want to talk." Elena said before she looked to Nick, knowing Lizzy only associated with Alex if he was around his siblings. "Nick, yes you and your friends have lost someone, but the type of pain your sister is in is different than the one you are feeling. She was there, she watched it all happen and feels responsible for what happened. You're going to have to give her some space." Elena said softly.

Seeing their mother was done talking Nick and Alex both stomped out of the kitchen, all the way up the stairs and into their rooms with Nick slamming his door. Alex had yet to get his door back so he couldn't slam it, but he did pick up a book and threw it at the wall. Damon and Elena were just glad nothing sounded like it had broke. Their children were dealing with the loss of a friend, they'd let the behavior slide … for now.

* * *

When Damon and Elena finished contacting the parents of the children's friends they had learned that while the news had reached the boys, Rachel and Susan did not know about Lizzy. Now that the news was confirmed, the girl's parents were going to sit them down and talk to them. When Elena hung up with Rachel's mother the sound of a car pulling up in their drive way could be heard and Chief started barking.

"That must be Clare and Simon. What do you think the odds are of getting Sara to come down?" Elena asked.

Damon grunted. "Not likely."

"We should try."

Damon sighed. "I'll give it a shot." He said though in all honestly both Damon and Elena knew it'd be pointless, but if anyone had a shot at getting Sara to come out it was Damon.

Elena moved to the front door and opened it to reveal Clare and Simon. Though she wouldn't mention it, they looked like they got very little sleep last night. Clare's eyes were pink and puffy.

"Clare. Simon. I'm so sorry to hear about Lizzy." Elena said as they walked in.

"Thank you Elena. Sara said you were out of town?" Simon asked when he released Elena from their hug.

Elena nodded. "Yes, I was in Richmond for work. When Damon called me last night, well technically early this morning, I came right home." She explained.

"It was very late then. I'm sorry you had to leave, it could've waited." Clare said, feeling guilty that Elena had left her work responsibilities behind because of what had happened to her daughter.

"It's just a story. I would much rather be here than there. The boys just found out this morning. They're not taking the news well." Elena said as they moved towards the living room. "Can I get you two anything? Coffee? Have you eaten this morning? Damon made enough to feed an army." Elena offered.

"Coffee would be lovely." Simon said as he looked to Clare.

"Tea dear if you have it, otherwise coffee is fine." Clare said with a weak smile.

"Coming right up." Elena smiled before she quickly moved about the kitchen, knowing how Simon and Clare took each drink made it easier for her. She may not know how to cook, but she could do this. The two couples had gotten together quite often since the Belmont's had moved here and the girls became friends, they even knew of Damon and Elena being vampires and had accepted the news rather well.

"Here we are." Elena said as she handed Simon his coffee and Clare her tea. "I hope it's alright." She said as she sat on the couch opposite of them.

"Perfect Elena, thank you." Clare said as she set the mug on the coffee table between them. "How's Sara doing? She was rather distraught last night. Understandably so."

"I'm afraid not much better. The poor thing was up at 5:30 this morning, wouldn't eat a thing, spent two hours just walking around outside with Chief and then ran off after telling Nick about Lizzy."

"Oh my. She didn't go far did she? Is she back?" Clare asked, rather surprised of Sara's action of running off.

"We're not sure where she went, but she was gone for nearly two hours. Came home and locked herself up in her room. Damon's trying to see if he can get her to come out, but I don't think you'll be seeing her today. I'm sorry."

"That's quite alright, Elena. Perhaps in a few days Sara will have accepted this and be ready to talk. We do not blame her for what happened." Simon said as he noticed Damon coming down the stairs. Alone.

"Certainly not. We very grateful for what Sara tried to do for Lizzy." Clare finished. "Hello Damon."

"Clare. Simon." Damon greeted with a nod of his head before joining his wife on the couch.

"No luck?" Elena asked, though the answer was obvious since Sara was not with him.

"Afraid not. I swear the only way I know she's actually in there is because I can hear her heart beat. I don't know how human parents do it." Damon huffed.

"Parenting is never easy, especially when a child is dealing with a crisis." Simon said. An awkward silence filled the room.

"Yes, well…" Damon cleared his throat. "Have you received the results from the doctors concerning Lizzy yet?"

"Yes, we did. Dr. Jennings called us this morning. They put a rush on all the tox screening ordered last night on all the girls from the party. Lizzy was overdosed. She had twice the amount compared to that of all the other girls in her system." Simon informed them.

"Do they know what caused the seizure?" Elena asked.

"They said it was a symptom of the overdose, but given the questionable stability of the drug there was nothing they could do. Even though she had vomited before the seizure enough had gotten into her system, to her brain, to the cause the damage. He told us that what they were doing for her last night just prolonged the inevitable." Simon finished sadly.

"It just slowed the process." Elena said and Clare nodded as she started to tear up. Elena quickly grabbed the box of tissues from the table beside her and held them out to Clare.

"Thank you." Clare whispered as she took the box and plucked a tissue from the box, dabbing at her eyes.

"If there's anything we can do, please let us know." Damon offered sincerely.

"Thank you Damon. We will keep you posted. Now, I believe you said something about Sara's car being ready for today?" Simon asked.

"Yes, um Louie called this morning. Lizzy's things have been taken into evidence. Because she was ill in sara's car we can't get it back till the investigation and possible trial is over with. But I can talk to Sheriff Forbes, see what she can do about Lizzy's things being returned to you." Damon offered as he pulled out his phone.

"That's quite alright, Damon." Clare said as she motioned for Damon to put up the phone.

"Just give us a call later and we'll deal with it then. I hope no other damage was done to the car. Lizzy said she'd been having issues with it lately." Simon said as he placed his empty mug on the table.

"There was an issue with one if the spark plugs, I replaced it. It's been fine since, then till those little…till they messed with car. I don't foresee any issues than just replacing the tires and filling the gas tank." Damon said as the boys came down the stairs. "Getting it back will be a little more difficult now though."

"Nick. Alex." Elena said as she nodded to her sons.

"Mr. and Mrs. Belmont." Alex said before he ducked his way into the kitchen.

"I'm very sorry about Lizzy." Nick offered his condolences with a sniffle. It was obvious he'd been crying recently.

"Thank you Nick. We're sorry too. We haven't just lost a daughter, but you've lost a friend. If there's anything you need that we can help you with, please let us know." Clare said as she got up and hugged Nick. Clare was the mom that always had a bunch of snacks ready if she knew the group was going to be at her house after school. While it didn't happen often during soccer season, it did have its moments in the off season. She realized that was never going to happen again and she forced herself to keep from crying again.

"Well there is one thing. Can you tell me what happened? Sara won't tell me…"

"Nick, we can talk about this later." Damon interrupted.

"Nick, Love. Let your parents inform you. They know how to word it in a way you can handle it better. They're up to date now on what happened." Clare said as she patted his shoulder. "We best be going. Thank you both for your hospitality. You will let us know when Sara is ready to talk to us, won't you?" Clare asked as everyone stood and gathered towards the front door.

"You're welcome Clare and of course we will. Call if you need anything." Elena said as she hugged Clare and everyone said their good byes.

Once Clare and Simon were gone Damon, Elena, and Nick sat down in the living room. The couple informed their son of everything that they knew about what had happened at the party and what the doctor had said about Lizzy. When they were finished Nick didn't say a word, he just stood up and walked up to his room. They expected the sound of his door slamming was coming, but were surprised when it only clicked shut. It was only 10 o'clock in the morning and it had already proved that it was going to be a very, very long day.

* * *

 **AN: And that's chapter 7. Not much going on here this time I'm afraid. Keep a look out for chapter 8. That's gonna be exciting. Please Review! :)**


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